With Shaken Certainty
by deke-core
Summary: Rob has the ability to convince anyone of anything - but is that just a hint of an even greater power? And is there someone that wants to use Rob for their own plans? Where will he stand in the rising war? *Complete*
1. You are gone

Hello all! This is my first X-Men fanfic. It's supposed to take place directly after the first movie and then move into the second. I have centered this story on an original character, but we end up meeting the X- Men and whatnot, so be patient with it. Please review when yer done!  
  
much luv  
  
deke  
  
Rob Vincennes walked through the front door, a sense of victory swelled inside of him. His parents and his younger brother were still out by the car, and for a moment, Rob was alone as he peeled mud-caked spikes from his feet. He had a reason for feeling so happy and victorious, a point his father brought up as the rest of the family came through the doorway.  
  
" You made it to the State Finals!," Rob's dad said, smiling beyond the boundaries of his face.  
  
All the way home, his dad had repeated the same statement over and over again as if engraining the sound of it into his brain.  
  
Rob laughed, and in a fake sarcastic voice, replied, " I know, Dad."  
  
Rob's younger brother, Todd, stood a distance away, beaming with pride, while his mother reminded him to be mindful of making a mess.  
  
" Come on Keri, it's not everyday that Rob makes it to the State Finals," Rob's dad replied.  
  
Rob was cold, caked in mud, but he had never been happier in all his life. His football team had just played an amazing game - putting them in the State Finals. It was a dream come true, a wish almost too fragile to realize.  
  
" Rob, please, don't get mud all over the house," his mother said as he started to make his way upstairs to his bedroom.  
  
" I can't help it!," Rob called back, with a smile.  
  
He closed his bedroom door, and slowly shed layers of muddy clothes. He threw the soaking uniform into his hamper without even thinking, Rob's mind was far too overwhelmed with dreams. He had made it into the finals! Even the inevitable overload of practices to come could not damper the excitement of it. He had worked so hard through out the year to be his best, and now that work was going to pay off. He beamed with pride.  
  
Rob made his way to the bathroom for a shower. He stood under the hot water for quite a while, thinking of the game, the adrenaline of such a time slowly fading the harder he tried to remember it.  
  
Rob closed the plug, and the bathtub slowly filled with water. Rob couldn't even remember the last time he had taken a bath - but now was a perfect time. His body ached from a night's worth of getting pummeled.  
  
The tub was soon filled, and Rob sat in the steaming water. He was so tired, after a day of school, hours of anxious anticipation, a brutally competitive game - how late was it now? Rob was slowly lost as weariness overcame him. He leaned back in the water, resting his head on the rim of the tub. He didn't even realize he was fading to sleep.  
There was a hard knock on the bathroom door, and Rob jumped. The noise shook him from whatever rest he had found. His mother's voice came through the door, " Rob? Are you okay?"  
  
" Yeah," Rob replied, water dripping from his black hair.  
  
" You've been in there for nearly an hour... Monica is here to see you," Rob's mother answered.  
  
" Okay," Rob replied, and shivered, for it just occurred to him that the water was cold.  
  
He pulled the plug from the tub, and dried himself as quickly as possible. An hour? Rob thought it through - it made sense, but the time had gone by in a moment. He must have fallen asleep, but - and an odd shiver shook his whole body - wouldn't he have drowned? After all, when his mom knocked on the door, he remembered his face and hair were dripping with water. Unless he was imagining things, he should have been dead, unless he was a -  
  
Rob pushed it from his mind - Monica, his girlfriend, was here, and he had to get dressed as quickly as possible. He was glad to hear that she was here to visit, but a little worried at the same time. Her brother could be extremely protective of her, and he never approved of her staying out late.  
  
Rob opened the door to the bath room, wearing an old T-shirt and plaid flannel pajama pants, and walked into his room.  
  
Before he could even turn on the lights, someone was hugging him.  
  
" You won!," that was Monica's excited voice. She giggled a victorious laugh.  
  
The light flickered on, and Rob smiled as his girlfriend's face came into view. She had wavy hair that was a dark brown, with brilliant green eyes. He always loved looking into those eyes.  
  
" What you doing in here?," he asked with an obvious 'hi-I'm-your- boyfriend' voice.  
  
" Waiting for you," Monica said, detecting the boyfriend voice and answering in her 'duh-that's-obvious' voice.  
  
" I was going to get dressed," Rob said apologetically - he didn't want her to see him wearing his pajamas.  
  
" I don't mind," Monica said, giggling again.  
  
" Does your brother know that you're over here?," Rob asked, his voice doubtful.  
  
" Actually...," Monica trailed off, exaggerating the moment, " He does."  
  
" He isn't mad?," Rob asked, once again doubtful. Usually, Monica's brother tried his damnedest to scare people away from dating his sister, and running into an angry 22 year old was the last thing Rob wanted to do tonight.  
  
" No, he thought you played a great game," she replied, obviously relieved that her brother was acting cool for once.  
  
" He saw the game?"  
  
" We both did."  
  
" You liked it?"  
  
" What do you think?!," Monica exclaimed, because she knew he didn't have to ask a question like that, " You were great. You know, I can't stay long, I just wanted to come over to congratulate you."  
  
" How are you going to do that?," Rob asked, smiling a shy smile.  
  
" Like this," she said, and very slowly, she pulled his face close to hers. Their lips touched, the warmth of their touch spread through out their bodies. They embraced for minutes.  
  
Just as slowly as it had begun, Monica pulled herself away.  
  
" I have to go, I'll be late," she said softly, leaving Rob alone in his room in a romantic glaze.  
  
" Bye," he said moments after she was gone. He exhaled loudly. There was not another girl in the whole world like Monica. He marveled at his incredible fortune. His mother was soon standing at the threshold of his door.  
  
" Did Monica leave?," she asked.  
  
" Yup," Rob said, still mesmerized.  
  
" You didn't walk her to the door?," his mom asked.  
  
" No, I guess I forgot."  
  
" I like her, she's such a nice girl."  
  
" Yeah...," Rob closed his eyes, trying to catch up to the memory that was fading.  
  
" You better get to sleep, you have to get up for school tomorrow."  
  
" Yeah, I hate Thursday games," Rob replied.  
  
" Rob, I'm really proud of you."  
  
" Thanks," it sounded lame, but what else could he say to his mom?  
  
His mom left, and once again he was alone. He turned off the lights, and crawled into bed. He suddenly remembered how tired he was. He drifted to sleep easily, laying content in his bed, thinking of all the incredible things that he embraced - he was a football hero, his girlfriend was better than the best, and he never felt so happy in all his life. He slept easily.  
Rob woke up the next morning - and the weather seemed to agree to his attitude. He could not have asked for a better day. A wonderful fluke of the weather made that November morning nearly 70, and he rummaged through his closet to resurrect a pair of green cargo shorts he thought he wouldn't see again until April. He was about to walk to school in just a T-shirt, but his mom made a big deal out of it (being a mom) and he was forced into wearing a gray zip-up hoodie. But even a hoodie could not destroy the mood, and Rob walked to school, soaking up the good weather.  
  
" Hey, you're not going to wait?," a voice called from behind. Rob turned around, his younger brother Todd was hurrying after him. Even if Todd was only a sophomore and Rob was a senior, they still walked to school together every morning.  
  
" Sorry. Weather," Rob said, waiting for Todd.  
  
" Yeah, whatever," Todd mumbled, " Looking forward to school, huh?"  
  
Rob had to agree.  
  
" I'm not," Todd continued, " Fucking swimming starts today. I hate swimming."  
  
Rob was confused, " Swimming?"  
  
" You should know, you have gym, too. What do you have to worry about?"  
  
Rob was thinking of the night before, but what did he have to worry about? His mind had to have been playing tricks on him. He shook the memory from his mind.  
  
Rob returned to the present, Todd was listing complaints about why he was loathing that 55 minutes where he would have to be in swimming class - most of the complaints revolving around the ugly uniform Speedo that the guys were forced into wearing.  
  
" You worry too much," Rob said, laughing.  
  
" I don't care, I'm playing hooky in gym," Todd said, taking full responsibility of abusing the no-dress rule for feeling sick in gym and not dressing in the uniform.  
  
Rob was lost in thoughts for a moment. He couldn't even remember the last time he had been swimming. He didn't live close to the ocean and his parents never bought a pool. He could feel anticipation growing inside of him, just like before a game. This would be fun.  
  
They continued to school, which was only eight blocks from their house, so they reached the high school in a matter of minutes. Once at school, Rob and Todd went their separate ways, hanging out with their own friends. Rob meet up with his friends, all of them not considering anyone around them as they celebrated the team's win as loudly as they dared. Even the teachers appeared to be in support of the team, for they had long ago abandoned the task of casting looks of disapproval in the teens' direction.  
  
Before long, the morning bell rang and Rob had to go to his first class - English, the terror of the whole school, since they were reading 'Tess of the D'ubervilles' and no one liked it, not even the teachers themselves.  
  
Yet, all of Rob's classes went by quickly - and the beginning of each class started with the teacher reminding the students of the football team's success.  
  
Hours rolled by much without excitement. Lunch came soon enough, and Rob sat by his friends in the cafeteria. Monica walked by casually, saying a casual, " Hi, Rob," in the most obvious 'I'm-his-girlfriend' voice anyone could muster.  
  
" Hey," Rob called back dreamily, but by then Monica was already gone - she always ate lunch with her own friends.  
  
All the guys at Rob's table began to laugh at Rob. It was all in good fun.  
  
" OOOOoooooooooooooooohhhhhh," Rob's best friend Jim replied, and then laughed, " Look, he's turning red."  
  
All the guys began to laugh again, Rob suddenly turned shy, and hid his face under the table. The guys laughed even more, and Rob laughed along with them, until he looked down at his hands. They were bright red. He jumped in surprise, hitting his head on the top of the table at the same time. He shook his head, shaking out the hurt, and looked at his hands again. They were normal.  
  
Nothing else exciting happened through out the rest of school day, until gym finally rolled around, which was the last class of the day. Obviously a lot of students had felt the same fear that Todd had, for there were about ten kids sitting next to the pool, wearing their normal school clothes, sitting huddled together and working on the gym-sick worksheets.  
  
Rob, however, got dressed for gym - he couldn't explain why, but ever since Todd reminded him of the swim class, he had been anticipating it all day. When was the last time he had been swimming? Could he swim?  
  
There were only twenty students who actually dressed for gym that day, much to the disapproval of their gym teacher, Mr. Finch.  
  
" If you didn't want to dress for swimming, why did you pick this class?," he barked at the students, but none of them could give him a straight answer. None of them wanted to state the obvious - the swimsuits were simply too ugly.  
  
Mr. Finch was the only teacher during the whole day that did not appear to be thrilled about the football team's success. He was the coach of the tennis team, and since it was overshadowed by everything including the chess club, he took the football win as yet another blow to his team.  
  
" Don't gloat, remember, this is swimming, not football," Mr. Finch said to the class, though mostly towards Rob and Jim. Rob rolled his eyes, he could have predicted such sentiments ages ago. The class was split up between boys and girls.  
  
" We're going to start off with one lap of freestyle swimming, which we're going to time so at the end of the semester we can see how much you've improved."  
  
The guys were going to do their lap first, and the girls were on the other side of the Olympic sized pool timing them.  
  
Rob sized up the pool. It would take him forever to get to the other side.  
  
" This is going to suck," Jim said to Rob.  
  
" Yeah, I'll probably get a cramp and drown," a nearby kid replied.  
  
Rob laughed at the remark, and replied, " Thanks, now I can't use that excuse."  
  
Mr. Finch blew the whistle, and all the guys jumped into the pool with feigned grace. Rob hit the water and immediately he felt something swell inside - a joy he didn't know he could feel. He felt a blanket of contentment wrap over him as he swam below the surface of the water - he didn't even feel such things when he was playing football. He swam even faster as his happiness grew.  
  
Rob was dully aware that Mr. Finch was blowing his whistle again - why?  
  
Rob reached the other side of the pool, where the water was only three feet deep, and stood up. Mr. Finch was standing directly in front of him, up on the side of the pool, looming over him.  
  
" What the hell was that?," the teacher barked at Rob.  
  
" What?," Rob asked, for he was terribly confused on why he was getting yelled at. Did he kick someone or something? Suddenly, he realized the quiet that had taken the pool room. Not a single person was talking. All the girls were standing still with what appeared to be fright, all their eyes were fixed upon him. Rob looked at the girls, and realized that he was alone. Twisting around sharply, he noticed the rest of the guys were still on the other side of the pool - god, had he swam that whole lap before he was supposed to? - they had hardly put a dent in the lap at all. They had all heard Mr. Finch's whistle - some were treading water, most were hanging on the ledge of the pool.  
  
Rob turned back around, confusion and fear almost knocking him over. Mr. Finch began shouting once again.  
  
" How the hell did you swim that lap so fast?," Mr. Finch boomed, " You never even came up for air once, explain that!"  
  
" I...uh..," Rob stuttered, but he was just as confused and lost for an answer as the teacher. He looked back behind him once again, some guys were getting out of the pool and walking slowly towards him.  
  
" Uh..," Rob stumbled again, taking up time while he ran through his mind. Did he really just swim a whole lap in the time it took for the rest of the guys to take a single stroke?  
  
" Well, explain yourself!," Mr. Finch demanded.  
  
" I guess I'm a good swimmer," Rob replied, lost for any other answer.  
  
" There is no human that is that good of a swimmer!" The words stung. There was a resounding silence. Rob starred back at his teacher in utter confusion. Did Mr. Finch just say what he thought he had said? Was he saying that Rob was a - Rob couldn't even finish the thought.  
  
" Did you hear me, Vincennes?," Mr. Finch shouted.  
  
Rob stared at the man stupidly, all the while desperately wishing he'd shut up.  
  
" Did you hear what I said?"  
  
Shut up, Rob thought, just shut up.  
  
" No human can swim a lap in that kind of time! How do you explain that?"  
  
" I can't," Rob replied, still dreading what the teacher was concluding.  
  
" You can't? Well, I have an answer for you," Mr. Finch shouted, Rob's stomach jumped at that promise.  
  
" You're a mutant!" The effect of the sentence made a few of the girls scream out, but the words weren't spoken by the teacher. Rob turned around. Jim was pointing at him, a look of complete conviction on his face.  
  
Rob opened his mouth as though he was going to object, but found that he couldn't. He stared back at his friend in complete fear. Is that what he was? Below the water, Rob tightened his hands into fists. He wished that everyone would just shut up and stop looking at him. He was desperately frightened of what everyone had concluded, and just wanted to be alone.  
  
" You're a fucking mutant!," Jim shouted again.  
  
Anger flashed through Rob as suddenly as a stroke of lightning. It happened so fast that Rob didn't even realize it. Jim had taken another step towards him, and then fell over, screaming that his leg was broken. Everyone else in the gym screamed out in terror, obviously they saw something that Rob could not see.  
  
" You broke his leg!," Mr. Finch shouted, but just as suddenly, Jim was back on his feet. He was alright, it had all been an illusion.  
  
" Oh, my god!," one of the girls shouted, " Look at him!"  
  
Rob looked down at himself, and realized with complete terror that his skin had turned a brilliant bright red. There was no denying it now, Rob swallowed his fears as he told himself he was a mutant. The reality of that hit him sickly.  
  
He had to get out of here. Rob had never felt so afraid in all his life. He turned from Jim and the rest of the class and dove under the water. He reached the other side of the pool in a matter of seconds. He jumped clear out of the water and hit the ground running. He ran for the locker room. He found his locker, flew through the combination on his lock, and threw on his cargo shorts, shoes, and hoodie. By that time, his skin was completely dry and now back to normal, though he couldn't explain why. He grabbed his back pack, and left.  
  
He could hear the commotion in the pool room, but he didn't care. He had to get home as fast as possible.  
  
Rob ran home, no one else on the street could possibly guess why. He was home in a matter of minutes, and he pulled the key from his pocket. The door opened before he had a chance to unlock it.  
  
Rob jumped and looked up into the face of his brother.  
  
" Todd, shit you scared me. What are you doing home?," Rob said, and tried to push his way past him.  
  
" Skipped last half of school," Todd replied. Rob laughed meekly as he pushed his way past his brother and into the house.  
  
" School just called," Todd said. Rob stood absolutely frozen.  
  
" Not now, Todd, please," Rob pushed his way past Todd and started to run up the stairs. " They said you're a mutant," Todd said.  
  
Rob stopped dead on the stairs, and stood still for a few moments.  
  
" Todd, I..," Rob trailed off. What could he say? Nothing could have helped him at a moment like this.  
  
" Is it true?," Todd asked, but there was something in his voice that lit a small flame of comfort in Rob. Todd wasn't at all scared or angry, but curious.  
  
" I guess," Rob said, and walked back down the stairs as if in defeat.  
  
" Look, Rob, I'm your brother. I'm just worried. I don't want you to run away."  
  
" What am I going to do?," Rob asked, clearly sounding his fear, " I can't go back to school. I don't know, do they expel mutants?" Rob shivered, for he has said that word, relating to himself. It had an odd feeling to it. There was a moment of silence.  
  
" What can you do?," Todd asked, and Rob gave a weak laugh because it was just like his brother to be amazed by something like this. But it put Rob at ease.  
  
" I swam a whole lap in gym in like, a few seconds," Rob replied, and Todd commented on how cool that was. Rob continued on " But then everyone started to freak out - I mean, I swam it really fast - and I guess I lost my temper or something because I broke Jim's leg."  
  
" What? How?"  
  
" I didn't really do it, he just fell over and started to scream that I had broken it, but then a few seconds later, he was okay. I think I just made him think that his leg was broken, or something like that. But," Rob paused for a moment, he was still shaking, " when I did that, it turned my skin red. Like really red."  
  
Rob shrugged.  
  
Todd and Rob stood in silence for a few moments.  
  
" What are you going to do?," Todd asked silently.  
  
" I dunno. Run away, I guess," Rob said.  
  
" Rob!"  
  
" What? What else am I going to do?," Rob shouted at his brother. He didn't mean to get angry, but Todd was acting stupid. He couldn't stay here. His parents would be pissed when they came home, and he couldn't go back to school.  
  
" Oh, shit," Rob cursed at himself.  
  
" What?"  
  
" Well, I guess that means the end of the state finals for me."  
  
" Come on, Rob, don't - "  
  
" What, do you think they'd let a mutant play on a football team? They'd think that I'd be cheating or something like that. Oh, shit! My life sucks..." Rob trailed off. His life was getting worse by the moment.  
  
" You know, maybe Mom and Dad won't be mad."  
  
" How do you know? Has anything like this ever happened to them?"  
  
They were silent once more.  
  
" Rob? Does this mean I'm a mutant too?"  
  
" I dunno."  
  
" I don't want you to run away, please."  
  
" I don't want to, either, but there's nothing else I can do."  
  
Rob slowly made his way back up the stairs to his bedroom. He had to gather what he could, though he was not prepared at all. What do you take with you when you run away? Todd followed him with apprehension, not knowing if Rob wanted him around.  
  
" They just left a message on the machine," Todd said.  
  
" Who?"  
  
" School. I just deleted it, but they said they'd call back at four."  
  
Rob looked at the clock, it was already quarter after three.  
  
" When is Mom and Dad supposed to be home?"  
  
" I don't know, four."  
  
" Can you try to stop them from getting that call?"  
  
" Sure."  
  
" I have to leave before they get home."  
  
Rob looked around his room, and began throwing all sorts of things he was sure he would need into his back pack. Then he took them out again. It was going to be winter soon. He had to think things out, but he couldn't think straight. Desperation struck him once again. What was he going to do about the cold?  
  
" This is stupid!," Rob shouted, throwing his back pack against the wall, " What am I going to do? I can't just run away now, it's going to be fucking winter." Rob fell back on his bed in defeat, searching his mind for answers as quickly as he could, until he was sure he reached a solution. His house rested directly on the edge of a forest. When he and Todd were younger they used to go exploring and they found a huge rock quarry that had been abandoned and filled with water. It was the perfect hide out - completely secluded from everything.  
  
" Todd, just wait, I got it," Rob exclaimed, " You remember the quarry?"  
  
" Yeah, sure."  
  
" I mean, I can just go down there tonight and hide out for a while. It will give me some time to think things through, and that way you can come and visit me."  
  
" What about Mom and Dad?"  
  
" I don't know, tell them I ran away."  
  
" But Rob! They'd want to see you."  
  
" I can't."  
  
Rob hurried downstairs into the kitchen. He started to throw as much food as he dared into his back pack. He stuffed another hoodie into the bag in case it got colder, which it was sure to do.  
  
" I've got to go," Rob said, noticing that the time was getting far too close to four. Todd didn't even object.  
  
" Are you going to visit me tomorrow?," Rob asked.  
  
" Yeah, if you want me to," Todd replied.  
  
They stood in silence for a while. Rob looked at his brother for a moment, and then hugged him as hard as he could. It was all he could think of doing to comfort his brother.  
  
" I'll miss you."  
  
" It's not like I'll be that far away."  
  
" I know."  
  
Rob walked to the back door, and opened the sliding door. He smiled at his brother and said goodbye, and stepped out into the yard. He closed the door, and that was it. He was on his own. He didn't even look back as he made his way into the forest.  
******* Well, that's the first chappie! Please review! 


	2. You are gone my dearest

Okay, so here we go with chapter number two!  
  
much luv  
  
deke  
  
It took Rob nearly all night to try to remember how to reach the quarry. He wished Todd was with him because he was sure that Todd would have remembered right away how to reach it. Making matters worse was the fact that the sun had set, and now he was making his way through the woods in darkness. At least there weren't any bears.  
  
At long last, Rob noticed a clearing in the trees and made his way towards it. He stepped clear of the forest, and before him stretched the quarry. It was larger than he had remembered it being. He smiled when he saw the water - a murmur of the contentment he had felt while swimming returned to him. It was like being welcomed back home.  
  
In spite of everything that had happened that day, he tried to feel optimistic. He knew that something would work itself out and that he would end up being okay.  
  
Rob walked out to the ledge - the quarry was surrounded in cliffs that ranged from eighty feet to twenty feet above the water. There was only one place where the ledge actually made a beach - and the beach itself was only a hundred yards or so. The quarry itself had to be a mile wide at least.  
  
Rob climbed down to the beach, and put his back pack on the sand. He looked around the water, but there was nobody in sight. He was utterly alone. He wished he had remembered this place when he was going through high school - it was a great place to think.  
  
Rob shook his head, because he wasn't in the mood to think right now. He felt an incredible desire to go swimming, and he didn't want to waste any time to hinder it. He took off his shoes and his hoodie and threw them next to his back pack, and stepped into the water.  
  
It should have felt freezing, after all it was November, but surprisingly, he couldn't feel a thing. The water had no effect on him. Maybe his mind was playing tricks on him? Rob smiled, for it meant that he could go swimming that night. What a wonderful mutation! But it wasn't the time to think about it now. It was time to go swimming.  
  
Rob jumped into the water, and joy once again swallow him. He swam under the surface of the water, and opening his eyes, he realized he could see better under the water than above it. He kicked his legs and he swam lower and lower below the surface.  
  
He soon needed air, but he had swam far too low below the surface. Fear hit him as he wondered if he would drown, the surface was so far away. He didn't even attempt to reach it. Instinct told him what to do, and he breathed in water.  
  
And he was fine. It was a strange feeling, and he wasn't sure how he could do it, but Rob could breath underwater. Happiness swelled within him. How much better could this get?  
  
Now it became apparent to him just how fast he really could swim. In the wide open stretches of the quarry, he had all the space in the world. He dove deeper and deeper into the water, looking at the structure of the quarry in amazement. He could spend days under here just exploring. And he kept swimming deeper and deeper.  
  
Rob had no idea how deep the water would get, but he could guess that it wasn't going to end any time soon. And then his stomach gave a delightful leap. He could breath under water, the temperature had no effect on him - how fortunate was he? He could not help feeling that he was the luckiest guy in the world at that moment. He was so happy, even in the face of all the terrible things that had happened to him that day, he could still take pleasure in such simple things. But no time to think about that now, there was a whole quarry left to explore!  
The next day at school was nothing short at hell for Todd. Nearly everyone who passed him in the halls shot him looks for terror or hatred, kids threw things at him in class, and hardly anyone talked to him as if in fear that he'd retaliated by shooting lasers at them.  
  
He gave up trying to stick up for his brother long ago - nobody would listen at all. So he just kept his mouth shut and dealt with it.  
  
Dealing with his parents the night before was worse. . He had told his parents that Rob went out with Monica that night, and since the school didn't call at four, he had nearly forgotten about it. Then, at dinner, the phone rang. Todd had forgotten about it until it was too late.  
  
He winced as he heard his mother talk on the phone, only a few lines of dialogue passed her lips as she hung up the phone.  
  
" Who was that, honey?," Todd's dad asked, and Todd slowly slid deeper into his chair as if trying to slid under the table altogether.  
  
" Craig, can you come here," she said, her voice obviously weak.  
  
Todd tried to imagine he was invisible - hoping he had the mutant abilities of his brother to make people see what he wanted the to see or not see - as he heard his parents whispering in the other room. Then, the inevitable.  
  
" Todd! Get in here." That was Todd's dad calling. Todd slowly got out of the chair and walked into the family room.  
  
Todd did the best he could to explain what had happened when Rob came home that day. He didn't want his parents to know that he had skipped class, but the school had told them that over the phone, too. All night they sat together and heard what Todd had to say.  
  
Just as Todd had predicted, his parents didn't feel angry at all. They were shocked and scared, but even more worried that Rob had run away. Todd kept his word and didn't reveal where Rob had gone. The night was overcast in sadness.  
  
They asked if he wanted to take the next few days of school off. For one reason or another, Todd declined the offer. He didn't want to take Rob as an excuse to miss school, but as soon as he got to the building he knew he regretted the opportunity.  
  
And now he had hardly made it through the first hour of school and he was ready to leave. He knew his parents wouldn't be upset if he left, and the idea was incredibly tempting. During the middle of his math class, he stood up and left the room, taking his books with him.  
  
He didn't have to explain it to the teacher.  
  
Todd stopped at his locker, hoping that a few days would be all that it would take for things to cool down at the school. He threw his books into his locker, and looked at the mirror that was stuck to the door. There was someone standing next to him.  
  
Todd jumped and wheeled around, face to face with another student. Todd couldn't remember her name, but he was terribly worried about why she was there.  
  
" Look, I know your brother is a mutant," the girl said.  
  
" No, shit, everybody in school knows that," Todd replied.  
  
The girl lowered her gaze. She couldn't have been older than he was.  
  
" They don't know it, but... I'm a mutant, too."  
  
" You are?," Todd responded. The girl didn't say anything for a while, but she had the same sense of desperation that he had seen in Rob's eyes. Todd could only guess at what they both were feeling - alone and hated in a world that rejected them.  
  
" He ran away didn't he?," she asked.  
  
" Uh, I guess."  
  
" Look, why are you telling me this?," Todd asked.  
  
" I think I can help him."  
  
" How?"  
  
" There's this school I've heard about - it's just for mutants." The girl lowered her voice as she said that. " It's not too far from here, I think it'd just take a few hours or so. I just didn't know, maybe he was going there."  
  
Todd had never heard of the school, and he sure that Rob hadn't either. But he didn't know if he trusted this girl.  
  
" What can you do?," Todd asked, his voice clearly showing that he wouldn't take her seriously if she couldn't prove to him that she was a mutant.  
  
The girl showed Todd her open palm, and then she closed it into a fist. When she opened her hand back up, there was a tiny version of herself standing in her hand.  
  
" Whoa!," Todd exclaimed as if it were a victory.  
  
" Shhh!," the girl scolded.  
  
" Sorry," Todd mumbled, and then realized he was being rude, " Sorry, what's your name?"  
  
" Kelly," the girl replied, and then she looked down at the fairy sized girl in her hand, " Her name is Scoot."  
  
" I'm Todd," Todd replied, " Look, I don't mean to be blunt, but I'm skipping school. Do you want to come over to my house?"  
  
Kelly smiled and agreed.  
  
The weather was significantly colder than the day before. The temperature plummeted down to 40 degrees, and both teens were wrapped in their winter coats. On the way to his house, Todd and Kelly talked about Rob. He told her that he was hiding out at the quarry and that they should go visit him. Todd could only imagine how happy Rob would be at hearing that there was a school for mutants that he could go to. He remembered how Rob had acted the night before - his brother was always optimistic about things, but there was a fear that he could not conceal.  
  
Todd and Kelly made their way through the forest. Rob had been right, Todd found his way to the quarry in only half the time that it had taken Rob. They stood on the cliff side looking over the cliff.  
  
" How are we going to find him?," Kelly asked. Scoot was sitting on Kelly's shoulder and looked over the water.  
  
" Let's go," Todd replied and they made their way to the beach that Rob had found the night before. They carefully climbed down the sandy shore and stood there for a few moments, not really knowing what to do.  
  
Scoot jumped down from Kelly's shoulder and walked to the water's edge. She dabbed her foot in the water.  
  
" The temperature is cold. Fifty two degrees," Scoot replied.  
  
" How do you know?," Todd asked.  
  
" She can tell," Kelly replied, " She's like my own personal thermometer. But she knows all sorts of things, too. Very practical stuff like that."  
  
But Scoot wasn't listening to them, she was peering over the water.  
  
" Sound travels better through water than it does through air," Scoot said, " I can tell him that we are here."  
  
" See, I told you, she knows everything," Kelly beamed as Scoot lowered her head below the water. Kelly shivered.  
  
" Oh, I can feel the water," Kelly said, shivering more, " It is cold. How can your brother deal with it?"  
  
" You can feel it?," Todd asked.  
  
" Yeah, what she feels, I can feel. Oh, that's better," Kelly explained. Scoot was out of the water and was walking up to Kelly.  
  
" He heard me," Scoot said, " He is coming."  
  
Todd, Kelly, and Scoot were silent as they waited for Rob to appear. A minute ticked by and nothing happened. They were staring at the water directly in front of them, completely oblivious to the fact that Rob was sitting on the cliff above them, starring at them.  
  
" Hey!," he shouted when he decided his fun was over.  
  
The three down by the shore looked up, and Todd laughed.  
  
" So you're red all the time now?," Todd asked. Rob looked down at his bare chest - his skin had changed red and it did not return back to normal, which greatly complimented his black hair and dark eyes.  
  
" No, I guess not," Rob shouted back, happy to see his brother, " You're here a little early. Skipped school again?"  
  
" Don't remind me," Todd said. Scoot suddenly tugged at Kelly.  
  
" There are men coming," Scoot said desperately, " Police men."  
  
Todd overheard that, and he turned to Scoot, " What do they want?"  
  
" The news this morning!," Scoot reminded Kelly.  
  
" Oh, god!," Kelly exclaimed, " On the news, that kid Jim, he got really badly hurt - he got hit by a car on his way to school, and they were blaming Rob. They were saying it was some kind of mutant revenge."  
  
" Why didn't I hear anything like that?," Todd exclaimed, obviously he had been in school, but it was too late to look for answers. Todd turned back to where Rob was standing, " Rob!"  
  
Rob looked down at Todd, " What?"  
  
But Todd couldn't answer. Behind Rob, there were five officers charging. There wasn't even a second to say anything. Scoot hid herself in Kelly's coat.  
  
" Robert Vincennes!," one of the officers shouted, and Rob wheeled around. Obviously he didn't expect anything like this. He didn't even move, he didn't have anytime to move. They were upon him in a matter of seconds.  
  
The officers all tackled Rob in one single move. They pinned him onto his back, and he struggled against them as best as he could. But he was helpless. One of the officers drew a spray can of mace from his belt and sprayed Rob in the face with it. Rob screamed desperately - he couldn't do anything to stop the pain of it, the officers pinned his arms to the ground. They were trying as best as they could to flip him onto his stomach so that they could put handcuffs on him, but Rob was doing everything he could to escape.  
  
" Todd!," Rob shouted out desperately, and one of the officers stood up and kicked him in the chest.  
  
" Todd!," Rob shouted once again as the officers pinned him onto his stomach. They wrapped his arms behind his back, Rob was resisting them as best as he could as he shouted out to his brother, " Run home!"  
  
Todd didn't have to be told twice. He grabbed Kelly's hand out of pure instinct and ran up the beach. Neither of them could even think of anything else to do. They ran to the forest, and only then did Todd turn to look at his brother.  
  
Just then, all five officers burst into flames.  
  
Todd and Kelly stood watching, absolutely helpless to do anything. They watched as the officers screamed and shouted for what seemed like an eternity.  
  
" Oh, god," Kelly said, a hand flying to her mouth as she watched.  
  
" They aren't - ," Scoot started, but something much more spectacular cut her off. In one moment, the officers were burning alive, the next all five were fine, not a single one of them burned. It had all been an illusion and Rob was no where to be seen.  
  
" He went back into the water!," Scoot exclaimed.  
  
" We have to get home," Kelly said.  
  
" But what if he needs us?," Todd demanded.  
  
" I'll stay here," Scoot answered, " I'll hide from the officers and I'll help Rob when I find him."  
  
" Can you?," Kelly asked.  
  
" Yes," Scoot replied, and she jumped down from Kelly. Kelly stood transfixed for a few moments, Todd tugging on her arm.  
  
" Come on!," Todd said and Kelly finally turned away.  
  
" Good bye!," Scoot called out.  
  
Todd and Kelly ran as fast as they could. Kelly looked as if she could not bear being separated from Scoot, but they both ran. They ran and ran until finally, they both collapsed on the forest floor.  
  
" We must be miles from that place by now," Kelly said, a hand hanging over her heart.  
  
" Are you okay?," Todd asked.  
  
" It's just Scoot, I..." Kelly replied, but Todd could understand, " We've never been apart for this long. It hurts."  
  
Todd was silent as he thought about what he had just seen.  
  
" Why did they do that?," Todd asked no one in particular.  
  
" They're afraid of us, well, I mean mutants," Kelly answered.  
  
" But they didn't have to be so... brutal. Why'd they spray him with mace?"  
  
" It's supposed to be painful enough so we can't use our powers. It's just what they do," Todd glared at Kelly as though she wasn't being sympathetic enough, " Look, can you blame them for being afraid? Weren't you afraid of your brother when you found out?"  
  
"No."  
  
They sat in silence for a while.  
  
" How long have you known?," Todd asked her.  
  
" Three years," Kelly replied, " I was alone when I first made her. I never told anyone that I was a mutant. No one knew a thing. At least Scoot can come back into me and hide - that way I could keep it to myself.. I shouldn't have to do that, though."  
  
Todd stood up. He had already regained his breath. They didn't feel the need to run anymore and they walked back to Todd's house. They took their time, partly because they were hoping that any second Rob would rejoin them. But he didn't. By the time they got home, it was about one in the afternoon. Todd's parents were already home - did they hear about what Rob was accused of?  
  
Todd walked through the back door.  
  
" Mom? Dad?," Todd called out. Kelly looked around the house.  
  
" Todd?," that was his mother's voice. She walked around the corner, and couldn't compose herself anymore. She looked upon her son and burst into tears.  
  
" Mom!," Todd cried out and they rushed to her side.  
  
" The p-police just left," she sobbed, " Do you know what they are saying Robbie did? That he hurt Jim?"  
  
" He didn't. I know he didn't," Todd said to reassure her, " I know him, he would never do something like that."  
  
" I know," she sobbed, " But they didn't listen."  
  
" Keri?," Todd's dad had come down the stairs and saw his wife, " Keri! It's okay."  
  
There was silence for a few moments and Todd looked over at Kelly. He could understand, it was quite an uncomfortable situation.  
  
" I'm okay," Todd's mom said, standing up and pushing away her sadness.  
  
" Mom, we just saw Rob," Todd said, not knowing if it was really something he should tell her at that moment.  
  
" You saw him? Where is he?," Todd's dad asked.  
  
" The quarry."  
  
But before anything else could be said, all four of them stopped for there was a desperate tapping on the back door window. Todd turned around, and couldn't believe what he was seeing. Todd's parents, who knows what they were thinking at that moment. Kelly rushed to the door, her jaw dropped in disbelief, and flung the door wide open.  
  
It was Scoot, but she was flying. She had wings.  
  
" No time to explain," Scoot said quickly, " Rob needs our help."  
  
**********  
  
Please review!!!!!!!! 


	3. And I breathe,

chapter three! we start to accelerate the angst level a bit in this chapter.  
  
much luv  
  
deke  
Rob hit the water, and his concentration broke. He had to escape them, and setting them on fire was the first thing he could think of. But now he was far from them and he kicked as furiously as he could. He descended deeper and deeper into the water. His eyes were searing in pain, his chest burned, and he was hopelessly confused and scared, but in the water he felt safe.  
  
What were those police men doing? Obviously they thought that he had done something - is this what they did to mutants when they found one?  
  
Rob tried his best to wiggle his arms underneath his legs - they were handcuffed behind his back and he was helpless without them. The water felt good on his face, however, and the faster he kicked his legs, the faster the pain left his eyes.  
  
He wasn't flexible enough to try to bring his hands underneath his legs, but he had to try. He pulled as hard as he could against the restraints, and finally, his hand managed to pass under his legs. They were in front of him once again.  
  
He still couldn't get out of them, but that didn't matter now. He had to find a way to get out of here. He swam. He swam as fast as he could, but even that didn't seem to be fast enough. He had to find a way to allude the police and find his way back home.  
  
Rob swam the whole distance of the quarry in about as much time as it took the officers to hurry back to their parked squad cars. He peaked his head over the surface of the water and looked around. He was alone.  
  
He got out of the water, the cold drops falling from him as the wind made every drop feel like needles. He forgot how cold it had gotten. There was nothing he could do about it now - his hoodie was back where he had left the officers and he could not risk going back there.  
  
He would have to walk home in only a pair of shorts.  
  
Rob rolled his eyes to himself, wondering how his luck seemed to change with the days. Tomorrow will be better he promised himself as he began.  
  
Just as in school, his body dried relatively quick, but that still did not help with the weather. Unlike the day before, today was cold. It felt like it was forty degrees out. Rob soon could not ignore the fact that he was shivering helplessly.  
  
He was walking alone for a while, which seemed all the longer because his feet ached since he didn't have his shoes.  
  
" Hello? Rob?," a small voice came from no where.  
  
Rob jumped and wheeled around. No one was there.  
  
" Hello?," Rob asked into the void.  
  
Scoot stepped out from behind a tree and Rob starred at her.  
  
" I am Scoot," she said as she walked up to Rob, " I am a part of Kelly, who came here to help you with your brother. It's okay, I am a friend."  
  
" That's nice," Rob said in disbelief, and he leaned forward and picked Scoot up off the ground.  
  
" We've got to go," Rob replied, and started off again. Under any other circumstances, Rob probably would have been a little bit more talkative or curious about a tiny person that he just picked up and was holding in his hand. Now, his thoughts rested entirely on getting home. He shivered even more.  
  
" Your body is weak," Scoot said, " You haven't eaten in 20 hours."  
  
" Oh," Rob replied. He should have realized that, but the discovery of his powers left him oblivious to the need of hunger. Now he was paying for it.  
  
" Your body temperature is dropping," Scoot said as well, " It's 94 degrees right now."  
  
Rob shivered as a reply.  
  
" You have to be faster, Rob."  
  
Rob didn't realize that he had been stumbling. He had never felt so cold or tired in all his life. He had been swimming ever since he reached the quarry the night before. And just like everyone else, he didn't realize how much energy he had used until he got out of the water. Now his legs felt terribly weak. Not that the sudden fear of being wanted by the police helped him much.  
  
Rob stumbled again and fell down to his knees. He growled in pain for a moment.  
  
" You have to hurry, Rob, please," Scoot replied as he waited for him to stand once again.  
  
" Don't you have fairy wings or something?," Rob asked.  
  
" No," Scoot replied.  
  
" How cold is it now," Rob asked as the wind picked up.  
  
" Thirty eight."  
  
Rob groaned and brought himself to his feet once again. His hands and feet were numb, and he told Scoot that.  
  
" Your body is freezing," Scoot replied, " Your body doesn't have the fuel to keep itself warm."  
  
Rob groaned again, " Do you have any good news."  
  
" We have a mile to go. You have to be faster, Rob."  
  
That didn't seem like good news, but Rob kept walking. It felt strange to be walking on feet that protested so greatly with each step. They were burning with pain but at the same time they were hardly working.  
  
" Blood is constricting," Scoot explained, " Pain is going to be much more forceful."  
  
Rob didn't even respond. He kept walking, shivering all the while, as he wrapped his arms around his body in an attempt to keep warm. The sun was shining but it hardly helped at all. Rob had never shivered so much in all his life.  
  
Finally, he had to give up. He leaned up against a tree and slumped down to sit on the soil.  
  
" Rob, we have to keep going," Scoot said desperately.  
  
" I can't," Rob answered, he was completely out of breath.  
  
" If you don't get up soon, you're going to die," Scoot said.  
  
Rob said nothing, but leaned his head against the tree. He closed his eyes and was still for a few minutes. Slowly, he dragged himself to his feet. He stood swaying helplessly for a few moments, and staggered onwards.  
  
He didn't get far. He walked for a few yards and fell once again. He curled up into a ball on the forest floor, cursing his situation to himself.  
  
Scoot walked up to Rob and looked at him. Rob hadn't said anything about it - surely he had noticed - but his brilliant red color was draining by the minute. Right now his skin was dangerously devoid of life.  
  
" Scoot," Rob said, starring at her, " Help me."  
  
" I can't," she said sadly.  
  
Rob reached out his hand and held her in his palm. He was shivered as if he was having a seizure.  
  
" Is anyone around?," he asked through chattering teeth.  
  
" No. Not a person. Not even the cops."  
  
Rob closed his eyes, and he tried desperately to focus his mind. He attempted to lift himself off the ground in the face of the desperate situation, but he couldn't find the strength. He looked at Scoot desperately.  
  
" Please help me," he whined.  
  
Scoot could think of nothing to say and so remained silent, starring back at Rob. He closed his eyes. He started to concentrate on not being cold. It was hopeless.  
  
But then he started to concentrate on something else.  
  
" Fly away, Scoot," he said, " Fly away and find someone to help me."  
  
" I can't. I don't have wings."  
  
" Have wings..." Rob said, concentrating as hard as he could. He forced his body to stop shivering and he concentrated as hard as he could. There was something different with Scoot - she wasn't a proper human or even a proper mutant. She was just a part of another person. Rob wanted desperately for her to think that she had wings, so that she could fly away.  
  
But something happened. Scoot couldn't be affected by Rob's powers as other people were. In an instant, Scoot had a pair of dragonfly wings upon her back.  
  
" Fly away, Scoot," Rob said to her.  
  
Scoot didn't need to be telling twice. She fluttered away and was gone from his sight in a matter of seconds. Rob lifted his head to watch her until she passed from his sight. Rob tried once again to stand. He lifted himself to his hands and knees, and slowly pushed himself to his knees.  
  
Rob placed a hand on a nearby tree and tried his best to stand. But his body was frozen. He felt like his legs would just break if he tried to move them. He was on his feet, but taking a step was almost impossible. His feet didn't obey his commands and he had to give up. He leaned against the tree and slowly fell into a sit. He shivered.  
  
Rob brought his knees up to his chin and shivered. There was nothing he could do but hope and shiver. He closed his eyes as a weird feeling fell upon him.  
  
Rob slowly felt like he was becoming warm again. He shook the idea from his head, he knew that was the final dance of hypothermia. But he was defenseless. His eyelids were so heavy. He had to struggle as much as he could to keep them from closing.  
  
But close they did and he was helpless to stop them.  
They must have looked strange if there was anyone there to see them. Leading the way was Scoot, who flittered before the pack. Next came Todd's father, who was running as fast as he could carrying a blanket underneath his arm. Kelly and Todd came after them, neither of them wanting to voice an opinion on the situation. Todd's mother was still at home, drawing a bath.  
  
They had a mile to run. That fact seemed to laugh in their face. They were racing against a clock and nothing could have been more hopeless.  
  
Todd's father proved to be a good runner - or else he was fueled by something that the teens did not share. They soon ran out of breath and slowed down.  
  
" It can't be much further," Todd gasped and rejoined the hunt, " Let's go."  
  
Kelly caught up to him.  
  
After a few minutes of running, Todd and Kelly wanted to collapse again. Scoot's voice filled the air, though, " You're close." and they kept running.  
  
It was Todd's dad who reached Rob first, and what a sight that must have been for a desperate father. Huddled against a tree that could offer no shelter, there was Rob. His color was even more drained - an eerie and lifeless shade of white which faint hints at Rob's true red.  
  
" Rob!," his father shouted, and held his son in his arms. His body was cold, so dangerously cold, and he did not respond to his father's voice.  
  
" Rob!," his father shouted once more, and Todd and Kelly caught up. Todd collapsed - from exhaustion and from the sight. There was no way that Rob could be alive. That thought nearly choked the air from him. He swallowed his doubts.  
  
Todd's dad laid Rob down on the ground, he had already checked his pulse and found nothing.  
  
" Todd, come here!," his father shouted, and Todd forced himself to approach the body.  
  
" It works faster with two," his father replied grimly, and Todd understood. He formed one of his hands into a fist and placed it on Rob's chest. He pushed down as hard as he could, but tears were blinding him. He couldn't see any longer.  
  
He stopped, and his father pinched Rob's nose and place his mouth over Rob's. He breathed two breaths and then Todd returned to his job. He couldn't even think, he couldn't do anything. He soon realized he was sobbing uncontrollably.  
  
But then, the faintest of hopes. Rob coughed.  
  
" Rob!," his father shouted and placed an ear over Rob's heart. There was a flutter. Rob coughed again, but he was breathing.  
  
His father grabbed the blanket that they had brought, and they wrapped it around Rob. His father held him close for a moment, wishing he did not have to fear losing his son at that moment. Todd looked at his dad, and in an instant, they were embracing as hard as they could.  
  
" It's not over yet," Todd's dad replied, and he raised himself to his feet. Todd would never have thought that his dad could have carried Rob under any other circumstance, but there was no time to question it now.  
  
With Scoot leading the way, they hurried as quickly as they could back to the house. Todd's dad was slowed down by the weight of Rob, but there was something else driving him - the parental instinct that is brutally relentless.  
  
Todd and Kelly once again had to slow down. Todd couldn't hold it back anymore, he fell to the ground in a helpless bundle of tears. Kelly stopped and she knelt by his side.  
  
" Oh, god, Todd, I'm so sorry," she said.  
  
Todd said nothing at all, but he pulled himself together. He wiped the tears away from his face and stood up.  
  
They made it back to the house in no time at all.  
They raced through the back door, and flung themselves up the stairs to the bathroom where only two nights before Rob had taken that fateful bath.  
  
They stood in the doorway of the bathroom, Kelly suddenly turning her face away at the sight. She excused herself away from the bathroom and stood on the stairs, reflecting. She looked up and saw Rob's mom - it was too much for her too. Neither of them had to say anything, a common emotion ran through them all.  
  
Kelly burst into tears - she had seen far too much today to do otherwise, and Rob's mom hugged her fiercely.  
  
In the bathroom, Todd stood perplexed. Rob was lying in the tub - filled with hot water, but somehow the sight seemed far too surreal.  
  
" The water," Todd said, stepping into the room, addressing his father who was sitting there helplessly, " He breathes under water."  
  
It must have been a hard thing to watch some one do, for Todd's dad flinched as Todd dunked Rob's head under the water. He turned his head away with what was a visible effort.  
  
Todd looked over his brother in fear. His body was still freakishly lifeless in color, his face emotionless. Todd looked up and noticed that Scoot was standing nearby.  
  
" Is he okay?," Todd asked, his voice shaking far more than he would have liked to have.  
  
" His body is weak," Scoot replied, " Very weak. The cold has taken much from him. But we shall see."  
  
" Will he survive," Todd's father asked gravely, devoid of emotion, the very sound of it sent shivers through Todd's body. The sound of those empty words remained in Todd's memory throughout his life.  
  
Scoot said nothing.  
  
That was answer enough.  
  
Todd's father left the bathroom in a way that greatly showed his emotional and physical drain. Todd and Scoot were alone.  
  
" Will he?," Todd asked as though hoping for a different answer.  
  
Scoot said nothing for a while, and then said, " We shall see."  
  
" Well, what do you think?"  
  
" I don't think," Scoot answered, " I just tell facts. There are no facts here."  
  
Todd sat in silence, looking over the body of his brother. It appeared that color was slowly coming back to Rob's body.  
  
" Look!," he exclaimed merrily.  
  
Yet Scoot said nothing.  
  
It must have been a strange feeling, what Todd felt at that moment, because he was sharing a conversation with a little fairy-like mutant, celebrating over the fact that his brother's body was slowly improving to a red color. Yet that was a feeling that could not be replaced, and Todd cherished it all the more.  
  
******  
  
Please review! 


	4. You have left me

It felt like years had dragged on, slowly, very slowly. It was an exhausting battle at best, the end was no where in sight. The shear force of such a struggle had taken it's toll. But he had won.  
  
Rob slowly opened his eyes, but they felt like they were weighted down. It took an effort to keep them open. He couldn't focus upon anything - he couldn't tell where he was. He closed his eyes. It was far too much hard work to keep them open.  
  
Answers would come soon enough.  
  
He slept once again.  
Keri Vincennes sat on the bed, looking down at her son. He was asleep, far into the realms of unconscious recovery. She slowly threaded her hands through his black hair, and watched as it fell back upon his red skin.  
  
Her son was a mutant. She would have imagined that she would take it much differently, but now that it came down it to, she felt nothing. Rob was her son, and nothing could prevent her from loving him.  
  
It was torture to look upon him now, and she felt beyond helplessness. She thought back on that day when her husband had carried him into the bathroom and placed his body in the bath tub. She was sure that he was dead. His skin - how could she have prepared for a thing? - it was the most lifeless pale, yet there was no mistaking the hints of red.  
  
As Rob got better, the color of his skin darkened, became more brilliant. And now, he lay there is bed - his black hair falling against the bright red skin.  
  
What was he to do now? He could not hide what he was.  
  
She slowly lifted herself from the bedside, and walked out of the room. She could not keep up with these long nights of vigilance.  
Rob opened his eyes much later, this time the task was easier. He was getting stronger. He looked about himself and realized that he was in his room - how did he get here? He quickly forgot about the question as quickly as it had appeared.  
  
He body ached. Everywhere, every last muscle of his body was dully aching. He winced at the pain of it, but it was a good sign as well. It meant his body was repairing itself.  
  
" Hello?," he asked out into the emptiness of his room, his voice sounding surprisingly small and weak. He had not used it for a long time.  
  
But all he got in reply was an empty room.  
  
He closed his eyes once again and tried to listen. The house was quiet and still. His room was dark, perhaps it was night and everyone was asleep?  
  
Rob would have attempted to get out of bed but his body was not reacting to his commands. He still needed more time to rest.  
  
" Rob?," came a small voice that he easily recognized.  
  
" Scoot?," Rob asked into the darkness, his voice lacking any strength. She fluttered down to his pillow.  
  
" You are awake," she replied.  
  
" Wings...," Rob whispered weakly as he looked at her.  
  
" You gave them to me," Scoot answered.  
  
" I did? Where is everyone?," Rob asked softly.  
  
" They are asleep. They have trusted me to tell them when you have awoken."  
  
" Let them sleep," he whispered.  
  
He was silent for a while, his mind blank. All he could think of was how exhausted he felt.  
  
" How did they do it?," he asked after a while.  
  
" There are things that drive people," Scoot answered, " You cannot see these forces, but they are there. It brings out the courage from the meek, strength to the feeble."  
  
" How long have I...?," Rob asked.  
  
" Sixty three hours."  
  
" The police?"  
  
" They have come. They know you are here."  
  
" I have to leave."  
  
Rob tried to force himself out of bed, but his body screamed out in protest. He fell back against the pillow, his chest burning.  
  
" Can you help me?"  
  
" No. Your body needs rest. You must sleep now."  
  
" But the police."  
  
" There is nothing to be done now."  
  
Rob glided back into unconsciousness with fear infiltrating his thoughts.  
Rob woke up in the morning, the shades on his windows still down so his room was dark. He looked around his room. There was a familiar form sitting on the corner of the bed, facing the other direction as if in defeat. Rob smiled.  
  
" Hey," he whispered. Todd jumped, and turned around.  
  
" Rob? You're awake!," Todd exclaim. He was bursting with the impulse to embrace his brother, but he fought against that. Rob was still weak.  
  
" How do you feel?," Todd asked.  
  
" Bad," Rob replied, but he managed to smile.  
  
" Everyone has been so worried," Todd replied, smiling in return, " You know, you... we thought you were dead."  
  
" I'm okay now," Rob said, and realized that talking so much was exhausting in itself. He took a moment to regain his breath.  
  
" How is everyone. Mom? Dad?," Rob asked.  
  
" Worried. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget the way they looked. So helpless. But you've been improving - they are still worried - but not as bad as when they brought you here. It was bad, Rob."  
  
" That's not what I meant."  
  
" They're not upset or anything.  
  
Rob nodded his head slowly.  
  
" The police," he said in a whisper so low he doubted whether Todd could hear him. Todd's eyes fell to the floor.  
  
" Mom and Dad weren't going to lie to the cops," Todd said.  
  
" I don't even know what this is about."  
  
" Someone hit Jim with a car, and they were blaming you."  
  
" I don't even have a car!"  
  
" Yeah, but Jim got released from the hospital. So I'm sure he can clear your name now."  
  
Rob thought back to that day in swimming class. Jim had the most terrified and hate-filled look on his face. He couldn't even bear to remember such a memory. He doubted whether Jim would actually clear his name.  
  
" I'm thirsty," Rob begged.  
  
Todd had a glass of water waiting.  
  
" Who is the girl who....has Scoot?"  
  
" Kelly? Well, she's a mutant."  
  
" I could see that."  
  
Rob couldn't say anymore. The effort of talking so much was draining him.  
  
Todd lowered his voice to a whisper, " She says that she knows where there is a school that's just for mutants. It's by New York City or something like that. You could go there with her and not have to worry about running away or anything."  
  
" But I can't go to a school if the cops are after me." Rob coughed out miserably.  
  
Todd was silent for a while, letting his brother rest. There was nothing that needed to be said. Rob closed his eyes, seeking a few more moments of rest.  
  
" A few more hours?," Rob asked Todd.  
  
" Sure," Todd replied, and stood up to leave the room.  
  
Rob was asleep by the time he reached the door.  
Todd closed the door behind him, and looked up to see Kelly standing in the hallway.  
  
" Hey," he said softly, not to disturb his brother.  
  
They both tip-toed down the stairs into the living room.  
  
" He's awake, isn't he?"  
  
" Not anymore," Todd said, pausing a moment, and then shivered, " Shit, that's scary. I could have sworn he was going to die. I just can't.... I'm glad he's better now."  
  
" Yes," Kelly trailed off. She closed her palm and opened it once again, revealing a tiny little person in her hand. She closed her palm and opened it again - there was nothing.  
  
" What are we going to do about the cops?," Todd asked, " We know that Rob didn't do it."  
  
" Hopefully Jim can say something."  
  
" Rob didn't seem to hopeful about that."  
  
" They like to pin crimes on mutants, you know. It makes it much easier for them."  
  
" Yeah, but what, they can't send him to mutant prison? Is there a mutant prison?"  
  
" I'm sure they're making one."  
  
" What about that school that you were talking about - can anyone there help out."  
  
" I don't know... I..."  
  
Todd understood. A few days ago, Scoot had flittered off towards the Xavier school in order to find help. The pain was quite clear on Kelly's face, as the bonds that held Scoot and Kelly together were stretched to their limits.  
  
Kelly hadn't told anyone about this yet, but since Rob had placed wings on her, she had not been able to bring Scoot back into her body. Scoot would always be outside, making Kelly feel somewhat robbed.  
  
" Do you think they can help?," Todd asked.  
  
" I don't know, really," Kelly answered, " I'm sure that they could. I mean, I'm sure that they get things like this all the time, you know?"  
  
" Yeah," Todd said, " I hope so. If they can't, Rob's just going to take off again."  
  
They were silent.  
A few hours rolled by, and just as he had promised, Todd made his way to Rob's room. He opened the door, and stood starring into the room in shock.  
  
" Shit! Kelly!," Todd called out, for there was no one else in the house at that moment. Kelly came running up the stairs in a flash, fearing the worse. She stood in the threshold, and her jaw dropped. The most desperate gasp filled the air.  
  
" My god! Todd, I...," she whispered, and Todd walked into the room as one walks in complete defeat.  
  
The room was empty.  
  
**********  
  
Please review! 


	5. Never to return

Chapter five - we're going to run into a member of the X-Men in this chapter, so watch out!  
  
Rob wasn't having any good luck at all. He had left the house a few days ago, and yet things were not getting any better. He was properly clothed against the elements this time, he slept under whatever body of water he could find. He tried to sleep in a river, which was a terrible mistake. The pull of the current was impossible to sleep over.  
  
Yet there was even a worse problem, and that was with food. He had money with him, and he stopped at a Taco Bell to get some food. And the people blatantly refused to serve him anything.  
  
Rob had not thought about that, but everywhere he went, people acted the same. They took one glance at his red skin and they refused his business.  
  
He hadn't eaten in a whole day when he tried it again at a local grocery store. He picked up a single candy bar and stood at the register. The girl running the machine stared at him.  
  
" Can I buy this?," he asked, but the girl said nothing. Instead, she looked helplessly over her shoulder as if expecting for a manager to come and rescue her from the situation. Rob stood looking at her, waiting for an answer.  
  
" Can I please buy this?," Rob asked.  
  
" Uh, we're not supposed to...," the girl trailed off. She was obviously very shaken by Rob. Rob stared at her, concentrating hard.  
  
The girl looked at Rob suddenly. He reached out and placed a five dollar bill on the counter. "There," the red mutant said and he turned and walked out the door. She picked up the bill and she put it in her pocket.  
  
Or so she thought.  
  
Rob stopped outside of the grocery store, looking miserably at the candy bar he had stolen. Sure, he got away with it without anyone realizing what had happened, but he felt bad. He hadn't given the girl anything for it, either.  
  
He felt guilty, but hunger was a stronger emotion.  
Rob continued onwards to NYC, walking mostly because they had refused to let him ride on the bus. But it wasn't so bad walking. He wasn't on any sort of a time schedule, and he took his time looking at things and exploring the towns that he happened upon.  
  
Rob tried his candy bar scam at another grocery store, too, but this time guilt prevented him from doing what he had gone in there to do. Instead he just turned away from the register, put the candy bar back, and walked into the back of the store because there was a security guard by the front door that he couldn't trust. Rob reached the back of the store, and walked through the 'employees only' door that lead into the back warehouse.  
  
He didn't run into anyone as he made his way to the back door, and then, he was out. He punished himself for not going through with his plan - he was hungry and desperate, but just then something else caught his attention. He was standing next to the dumpster, and he peered inside.  
  
He could not believe his eyes. There had to be at least fifty boxes of Chips Ahoy! cookies in there. Without even thinking, he flung open his back pack and crammed as many boxes as he could into the bag.  
  
Rob must have looked funny, walking down the street, munching on cookies and handing out all the spare boxes to people that passed by him. He could never have believed that so much stuff would have gotten thrown away - and even more surprisingly that the food was still good.  
  
He had to remember that. Dumpster diving was way more better than stealing.  
It took Rob weeks to reach New York City. He checked behind every grocery store he came across, most of them were a success. One had a few packages of Thomas's waffles. But the best dumpster was the one that had hundreds of boxes of Lucky Charms. He sat next to the dumpster all through out the night separating the cereal from the marsh mellows, and cramming as many marsh mellows in as many boxes as he could. He always dreamed of doing that when he was a kid.  
  
But now he was in New York City, and things were much more different. He had no idea where he was going, and he got helplessly lost. Everyone he asked for directions gave him a different answer - and all of them sounded so ridiculous he was sure he could do the opposite of what they had told him and be okay.  
  
He didn't know where he was going to find this school, either. Maybe he should have looked into it more before he left home, but he knew he couldn't have done that. He could never have left once his parents knew he was awake - he would feel so bad seeing them that he couldn't leave again. Hopefully, they could understand. What kind of a life could he live at home?  
  
At least if this school existed, he would he around other mutants - as long as they weren't the crazed murderous bunch that everyone made them out to be.  
  
After a day of searching, Rob finally reached downtown. He looked at all the sights as much as he could. Even when the city succumbed to a shower of rain, Rob was still taking in the sights. His skin was soaking up the rain fast enough, so he didn't really get wet. That was something else that Rob noticed about himself - he felt an urge to keep drinking water, to be in it and around it. The rain felt nice on his skin, and satisfied that urge.  
  
Yet Rob had reached another problem now that he was in the city - how was he going to find out where this school was? He surely couldn't just walk up to people and ask them about it. Even people who looked like they should be mutants probably weren't. There was just no way that he could tell. He had to just hope that someone who was a mutant would see him and help him out.  
  
Rob was almost positive that if he stayed in the city long enough, that something good would happen.  
  
Something good did not happen. As night fell once more, Rob was alone in a city full of crazy hobos and drunks. Everywhere he went, some guy started to shout at him incoherently. If he kept moving, he'd be okay, he told himself.  
  
But even that wasn't the case. No matter where he walked, people would keep in stride. He had hoped that someone would look upon his face and have the sense to stay away from him. Some people were, but the things with crazy drunk hobos is that you don't want to draw attention to yourself.  
  
" Look'e, here's one-a them," a crazy guy said to Rob. Rob didn't say anything and kept walking. The crazy guy followed him, shouting to people that didn't exist.  
  
" Look'e, there he goes, where does he think he's going?," the crazy man shouted as Rob wondered quickly if the crazy guy could run. He just nearly broke into a run, but the crazy guy suddenly grabbed Rob by the arm.  
  
Rob tried to shake his arm out of the crazy guy's hand, but the drunk guy had a surprisingly strong grip.  
  
" Look'e, I gots one-a them," the crazy guy said before he burst into flames. Rob disappeared into the night, and drunk guy was soon standing alone in an alley, wondering if he had just imagined that he had caught on fire.  
  
Rob didn't like that - he didn't like having to resort to his powers to get out of situations like that, but that's how he got through the night. How many more nights could he last until he found this stupid school?  
Rob's answer was currently six days, and things weren't looking any brighter. He had found out some things about the city that made his life even more miserable - there was no way that he would let himself go through any dumpster in the city, there was no way he would ever even think about swimming in any body of water around here (image breathing in that!), people were even ruder to him than he could have possibly feared, and everyone seemed to be absolutely mad crazy. People seemed to shout at him from all directions and Rob wished he could hide.  
  
He was hungry and no one would let him eat anything - which was worse. There were few places that he could steal from in the city. Almost all the places he went to had absolutely paranoid security guards and they would follow him as close as a dog.  
  
He even got kicked out of the library for drinking water from the fountain for hours on end.  
  
And worse yet, he could not find anywhere to swim. The feeling was nagging at his heart for days, and he wondered if it was like breaking away from an addiction. He would shake uncontrollably for hours, his head split with a bludgeoning force. He felt weak and empty and his heart yearned desperately for water. He was hungrier than that, though, and he had to risk his safety so many times by stealing the most meager of candy bars from convenient marts too small to have hired guards.  
  
Not only that, but he had been existing on very little sleep. How could he sleep in a place like this? He would usually find a secluded spot to rest during the day, but there was no way that he would risk sleeping at night. He stayed in downtown, fearing what kind of places he might end up if he journeyed elsewhere.  
  
The effects of not swimming were starting to show on him - the color of his skin once again draining away. But even that seemed to be an improvement. His face was so pale that it would take someone a second glance to see the traces of red that remained, and even if it was painful to do so, Rob wanted it to remain this way.  
  
And so Rob had a blissful day of not being stared at by everyone he looked upon, that is, until it rained. All the brilliant redness of Rob's skin color came shining out once again, and so dashed all hopes of having a somewhat normal day.  
  
Rob walked, hands in his pockets, eyes on his feet, hoping that no one would bother him. He was being to wonder if he should even keep looking for this school at all and just go back home where things were a little bit more sane.  
  
Rob was staring at his feet, with the hood from his hoodie pulled as far low over his face as it would go, and as a result, he couldn't really predict where he was walking. He probably looked really sad and pathetic as well, but Rob didn't want to dwell on that.  
  
He ran into a couple of people as he walked, really just brushing against them, nothing big. One person was different. Rob ran into them so hard that it twisted him around - and the same with the woman he ran into - and they stared at each other for a few seconds before Rob continued on his way.  
  
" Wait!," the woman called after him, but Rob only walked faster.  
  
He didn't know why but there was something unsettling about the whole thing, yet when he chanced to look over his shoulder, he realized that the woman was following him. Rob broke out into a run.  
  
Rob couldn't help but feel afraid. Over a span of few weeks he had been knocked down and nearly arrested by cops, chased by crazy drunk hobos, and shunned by almost every person that looked at him. He just wanted to find this stupid school, and it seemed like everyone in the world was doing their best to stand in his way.  
  
Yet Ororo Munroe, a.k.a. Storm, was not one of those people. She had been sent to New York City to find Rob Vincennes - and by the description she received, she didn't think it would be so difficult. A red-skinned mutant with an affinity for water - she started by searching the beaches. But everyone she had asked about Rob could not recall seeing him. It would have been hard to forget a teenager with bright, fire engine red skin.  
  
Intuition told her that a boy from the suburbs would naturally stay wherever he felt safe - the city could be a scary place, so she headed downtown. And just as luck would have it, she found him. But it seemed as though Rob Vincennes did not want to be found.  
  
" Wait!," she called after him, but he had already broken into a run. She ran after him.  
  
" Rob Vincennes! Wait!," she shouted, and to her surprise, he stopped dead in his tracks. She caught up with him quickly enough. He was breathing hard as if even a little effort to get away was too much.  
  
" How do you know my name?," he asked, his voice soft and welcoming, yet obviously weary.  
  
" I was sent to find you," Storm answered in the kindest voice she could muster because the boy was obviously afraid, " I am from the Xavier school for - "  
  
" You're a mutant!," Rob suddenly realized with clear delight. All apprehension dropped from his demeanor.  
  
" Yes I am," Storm replied with a smile.  
  
" And you're from that school?," he asked, hardly able to contain the excitement that was rising inside of him. Was it true? Had he finally found a way to get to the school?  
  
" Yes."  
  
" I was ready to just give up, I thought Kelly was playing tricks with me or something."  
  
Kelly? Storm thought. That was the name of the girl who had arrived at the school a few weeks ago - the one who could make miniature duplicates of herself from the palm of her hand.  
  
" No, it's true. We do have a school, and you're welcomed to join us, if you're ready."  
  
Rob didn't even have to consider the question, " Of course I am! What else am I going to do?"  
  
And so Rob was on his way to going to the Xavier school, and he could not be happier.  
  
*********  
  
Please review! 


	6. and I remain

It's already time for chapter 6! Wonderful! (said just like how C3PO would say 'wonderful!') Wow! I have to say thank you for all of these reviews! You have no idea how inspiring a good chunk of reviews can make you feel -- well, I bet a lot of you can.  
  
Uh... in regards to some questions - Kelly DOES have the ability to personify parts of her personality. I guess I didn't really make that clear. Sorry! Uh... what else... in the chapters to come, there are going to be more mutants with more powers, and much much much more excitement to come. Just wait and see.  
  
So, yeah, in other news - I just started beauty school (eee!) so it might be a while for me to update. The only day that I have to write is Monday - which is the only day that the other 4 of my room mates are at work and I have school off.   
  
Thank you so much for the reviews!!!!!! You all hold a special place in my heart ;)  
******************  
  
Chapter 6  
Adrian Nickels could not sleep. That was expected, because Adrian had exceptional hearing. All of his senses were much greater than that of normal people, and he could hear any noise being made through out the whole school - right now someone was downstairs watching TV. It was probably Jones.  
Adrian laid awake, staring at the ceiling above his head trying futilely to block out the noise by concentrating on the detail in the paint job. It appeared almost perfect, but Adrian had noticed long ago the slight imperfections of brush strokes that only his eyes could see. But he couldn't block out the noise with the short comings of the ceiling paint. Adrian cracked a smile as he recognized what he was hearing - it sounded like there was an infomercial on.  
Why the hell are you watching that? Adrian thought as he rolled his eyes and got out of bed.  
He tip-toed across the room to where his room mate was sleeping, even though he didn't have to tip-toe. His hearing was so sensitive that he had trained himself not to make a noise that he - or anyone else for that matter - could hear. That, and his room mate was sleeping underwater.  
It must have been a strange sight for someone who wasn't expecting to see this - a boy about 17 years old with skin that was the same bright red color as a fire engine who was sleeping quiet comfortably in a bed that could have been mistaken for a fish tank. But Adrian was used to the sight.  
He reached his room mate's 'bed' without making a noise, and for a moment he paused, looking at Rob Vincennes. Rob was desperately asleep. Slowly, Adrian raised his hand up to the glass, and knocked on it with his knuckles.  
Rob's reflexes worked fast even when he was asleep. In what seemed like only a flash, Rob jumped out from the water and was standing next to Adrian, grabbing his hand as though to break it off.   
" They tell you not to tap the glass at the pet shop, they tell you not to tap the glass at the zoo, so don't do it here!," Rob barked at him. Adrian laughed. His prank had worked, as it had every other time he had done it. But Rob wasn't really mad - he rarely ever was.  
" You couldn't sleep again?," Rob asked as he got dressed, his skin already dry. It only took him a few moments to change into his clothes - he always wore the same thing, a gray zip-up hoodie and green cargo shorts.   
" Jones is watching an infomercial," Adrian said in a whisper. He always spoke in a whisper.   
" Great. I always suspected him of being a late-night shopper," Rob replied playfully as though they were talking about a murder suspect, " What are we doing tonight?"  
On these kind of nights, the two boys usually spent hours exploring something about the school or the grounds around it only to go to classes the next morning absolutely spent.  
Adrian shrugged. It was deep into a thunderstorm, which would not have bothered Rob one bit, but Adrian's hearing made it just about unbearable. Any exploring they would do would have to be limited to the building, or so he hoped.  
" I don't know. I'm pretty hungry though. I heard a rumor that Bobby's got a big stash of Doritos in his room," Adrian said. Every student at Xavier's knew that junk food was really very hard to come by as almost everything in the kitchen was healthy food. But the greatest thing about the plan was that Adrian never made a noise when he moved, making the art of sneaking around absolutely flawless.  
Rob's reply was a series of stretches. Sleeping underwater was incredibly comfortable, but waking up in the middle of the night wasn't. And now that he knew what had caused Adrian to wake him up, he could go back to feeling sleepy again. Rob prolonged the stretching into a ridiculous time, as though testing Adrian's patience.  
Adrian, however, was very patient, and Rob quickly got bored with the idea. Rob pointed one hand in the direction of his nightstand, and a little fairy girl fluttered to his hand.  
" 'ello, Scoot," Rob said, yawning, " Don't you ever sleep?"  
" No," Scoot replied, but Rob already knew that.  
And so the plan was settled - and the adventure of the night was to steal the stash of Doritos from Bobby Drake's room and eat them victoriously until morning. It was a perfect crime, but they were also perfect suspects. Since Rob arrived at the school five months ago, him and Adrian had been notorious for pulling pranks and executing (sometimes terribly failed) adventures. They had become a team, they worked together perfectly, and all the students knew it. Many of them had already fallen victim to Rob and Adrian's jokes.  
The funny thing was that Rob had never acted like this when he was still just a normal teenager living with his parents. But then he found out that he was truly a red-skinned, water loving mutant and he was forced to move to Xavier's school. That's when he became room mates with Adrian, and somehow he fell perfectly into the role of sidekick . His concern for others went hand in hand with Adrian's quest for humor, and their combined optimistic nature made even the most anal students take one of their pranks in good measure.   
Adrian had a knack for adventure and a delightful desire to pull pranks on everyone. He always meant well, and all the students thought that he was funny. The teachers could do whatever they could, but in the end they just had to roll their eyes and remind themselves that ' boys will be boys.'  
And so they found themselves sneaking down the hall, Adrian in the lead as always, Rob following slowly, keeping both eyes open for teachers or students, and Scoot fluttering after them.  
Sneaking was an art form for Adrian, but horribly lacking in Rob. Rob had grown accustomed to the grace that presented itself beneath the water, and as a result, he lost touch with any form of equilibrium on the ground. This was why most of their adventures were cut short by a prowling teacher.  
Adrian could only roll his eyes but he wished he could tell Rob to walk straight - to him, this was mission time and not a breath was to be spared on talking. Adrian could have probably made an exceptional secret agent, if only playing jokes on the president was part of the job description.  
They crept on.  
Both Adrian and Rob knew where every student's room was - and finding it in the dark was hardly an effort at all. They reached Bobby's door in no time at all.  
They stood before the door for only a moment - Adrian reached down and grabbed Rob's wrist and in a flash, they were inside of the room. That was another one of Adrian's abilities that made their pranks so much easier - Adrian could teleport. Add that along with his super-stealth and Rob's ability to convince others of just about anything, and they had the perfect combination of skills to pull of just about any prank. As long as they didn't get caught.  
Rob had grown accustomed to the feeling of teleporting, though at first he had ruined perfect prank set-ups because of the vertigo feeling that he got afterwards. Rob had only felt that terrible once before - when he had held onto his power so long that he slipped into an uncomfortable vertigo and ruined yet another adventure.  
Adrian looked about the room - both Bobby Drake and his room mate were fast asleep - completely oblivious to the fact that anyone else was in the room. A perfect entry. Adrian began to tip toe around the room. Rob didn't move, he just looked around for those Doritos in the spot where he stood.  
Maybe it was just a rumor, Adrian thought as he peered around the room. Under the beds, hidden in dressers, inside the closet - he opened doors and rummaged through drawers without making a sound, but there was no sign of the allusive Doritos.  
Adrian looked back at Rob and Rob held Adrian's stare. They exchanged identical shrugs. Maybe this wasn't going to be an all-night-long-Doritos-eating feast, but why?  
They got their answer soon enough.  
Bobby jumped out of his bed with speed that would have caught any one off guard, and with amazing accuracy for someone who just jumped out of a bed - he shot a stream of ice at Rob. Rob was hopelessly slow at realizing even what had happened until it was too late. He stood frozen to the spot.  
Adrian stood like a statue, having no idea what he was supposed to do now.  
" Ha!," Bobby exclaimed softly at the two boys, " I knew it'd work on you."  
" What do you mean?," Adrian replied innocently, as though Bobby had thought they were someone else.  
" There were no Doritos!," Bobby answered, and it had the tell-tale signs of a threat to their reign of prankster superiority. Adrian answered the threat like one would react to a murder sentence.  
" No!," Adrian returned the challenge, and he dove for Bobby. He missed completely, and he hit the ground without making a sound, laughing so hard that he couldn't stand up again. Bobby laughed with him too - for once he had gotten back at them.  
The only person who wasn't laughing was Rob. For a moment he stood forgotten - frozen in place, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that Rob's body needed water far more that normal people did. He was constantly in water, around water, or drinking water. The problem with ice was that it   
constricted the flow of water, which would have been uncomfortable for most people, but for Rob, the effort worked ten fold. The water that he preciously needed was freezing.  
He was screaming, but no one could hear him.  
Bobby and Adrian were still laughing, and Adrian was coming to terms that he had been had, but as long as they could laugh about it, there was no hard feelings. Bobby had completely forgotten about Rob, laughter being a far more stronger emotion than concern, but now he had returned to the present. He could control ice like Storm could control the weather, with the slightest of efforts, the ice around Rob was gone.  
Rob fell to the ground.  
Adrian stopped laughing, noticing that Rob's body had turned to a sickish pale tone.   
" Rob?," Adrian asked, and he teleported to Rob's side. Rob was shivering beyond control, but his color was returning for the room was really warm.  
" Are you okay?," Bobby asked, realizing that he shouldn't have gotten so carried away, but Rob was not responding. For a few moments, there was no other emotion in the room except for pure terror.  
  
But, of course, that's the luck of having the power of convincability AND being a prankster.  
  
In a flash that made Bobby jump as if he was going to be killed - Rob was up on his feet, skin a blazing red. And Bobby couldn't move. He was frozen - just as Rob had been frozen - but this was much worse. Bobby always had the power to control ice, but this time he couldn't. Because in all actuality, there wasn't any ice. It was all in his mind, but Rob was so powerful that no one could defend themselves against such an attack, unless they had telepathic abilities.   
  
Just the thought that he couldn't control the ice that had imprisoned him was scaring him beyond anything else. He couldn't even tell himself that it was all just an illusion.  
  
Just as suddenly as it had begun, though, Bobby was free. He was no longer cold, he was no longer trapped - just as he had been. It was as if someone had merely turned off a light.  
  
Bobby was silent for a moment, taken aback as if in insult. He had just been FROZEN. " Jerk," Bobby muttered in a joking voice. Adrian was laughing uncontrollably - because they had gotten back at him for the Doritos.  
" Yeah," Rob said smiling broadly in victory, " and I hate the cold."  
" I'm sorry," Bobby replied, but Rob was surely going to be alright, " I got you guys, though. That was perfect."  
But something wasn't perfect, because there was the sound of someone coming down the hall. They had made too much noise.  
" Later," Adrian added, and in a flash, they were gone. Rob and Adrian were soon in their own room, and Rob stumbled to his bed of water. There was a dial on the side of the 'bed' where Rob could control the temperature of the water, and he turned it up to 95 degrees.  
" Good night," he mumbled, and soon he was immersed in the warm water, the brilliant red once again returned to his skin. Within moments, he was fast asleep.  
Adrian walked over to his own bed and laid down. He listened for a few moments and realized that the TV no longer was on, which meant that he could get some sleep this night. He curled up under the covers and smiled as he drifted to sleep.  
Another adventure accomplished.  
************  
  
Yes, I know - Bobby is the cutest mutant in the world. Hands down. No way around it.  
Uh... me being a girly girl.   
Please review! Thanx! : ) 


	7. No, if my verses have any power

Time for chapter 7!  
  
And to all of you who are reviewing this - keep it up! There's nothing more inspiring to a writer than to know that there are others out there who are reading.  
  
To Jasmine (leggy_fanfirl@hotmail.com) - that would be interesting to write a rob/kelly sequel, or if you wanted to go ahead and write one, that would be great, too. Though I've already got this story planned to about 40 chappies right now (and does the action pick up!) and Kelly has other love interests to come...  
  
To Guin, there will be a lot more of Rob interacting with other students, especially now that he is in school. I'm glad that you like the story so far!  
  
To remnants_2011, I'm glad that you liked Kelly's and Rob's powers. Of course, in this point of the story, we don't really know the full potential of Rob's powers, but that's more action to come ; ) I was a little unsure of how people would take to Kelly's powers - so it's really nice to see that people like it! And, there's going to be even more characters introduced later on that have other original powers as well.  
  
To Wolvie's Gurl - so happy to see that you're enjoying the story! And that I keep updating!  
  
To Snitter_in_Rivendell - of course your reviews make me the happiest. You actually tell me exactly what parts you enjoyed, such as dialoge and whatnot. The dialoge is the part that worries me the most, and so your reviews always make me smile. And they're so long! yeah!   
  
To everyone else who I've forgotten, thanx!  
  
And now on with chapter 7!  
  
**********************  
  
Brittany Ontalvo smiled as she looked down the hall, or more accurately, as she looked through the wall of her classroom and down the hall. Rob Vincennes and Adrian Nickels were late for class (once again), and they were sprinting for the classroom like the whole building was on fire. Even if they were late, they still were laughing to themselves, finding a way to make a game out of everything.  
  
Rob, of course, couldn't run nearly as fast as Adrian. If he didn't keep his mind on where his feet were, he'd trip over them and fall. This time, however, he kept his mind on maintaining balance, and he made it to the door without crashing to the ground.  
  
Adrian opened the door to the classroom, and smiled. Of course everyone knew they were going to be late. They usually were.   
  
Storm turned around from the chalkboard and gave them a disapproving stare. That was about as much power as she could hope to invest in to make the boys feel guilty about interrupting class - they had been late to class too many times before to put much more emotion into it.  
  
" Find your seats," Storm told them, for she had long ago abandoned the task of scolding them.  
  
Rob smiled at her, because she was one of the very first mutants he had ever meet - in fact, if he hadn't met her, he might still be sitting in New York City cursing it's filthy water. Storm managed to smile back - it was far too hard not to be angry with two teens who were so optimistic - and she continued teaching the class.  
  
" At least we're late for history," Rob whispered under his breath as he reached his desk and started to take out his books.  
  
Next to him, Adrian managed a silent laugh. He might have said something to follow up on the insult of history, but Rob couldn't hear it. Sometimes Adrian forgot just how quiet he really was.  
  
On the other side of the room, Brit smiled at Rob. He was completely oblivious to the fact that she was even there - staring off into space while nonchalantly sipping on a bottle of water. She didn't know why she thought he was cute, after all, who could be attracted to someone with bright red skin? He was cute, though. And caring, and funny, and honest...  
  
Brit shook herself - she had been daydreaming again. She rolled her eyes to herself and tried to concentrate on the class.  
  
" And even after the First World War had ended, the Spanish flu reached epidemic levels, and millions more people died," Storm was saying.  
  
" They probably would have stayed alive if the 19-teens were actually interesting," Adrian whispered to Rob. Rob tried not to laugh at the remark - it wasn't really that funny of a joke, but simply the fact that he couldn't laugh in class made it more the funnier. Rob buried his head in his arm to stifle the sound of his laughter.  
  
" Rob," Storm said as he interrupted the class for the second time today.  
  
" Sorry, Ms. Munroe," Rob said, while still trying not to laugh. Storm went back to teaching and Rob punched Adrian in the arm for getting him in trouble again. Adrian smiled - he had been laughing, too, but no one heard a sound.   
  
Rob looked up for a moment, which was rare in this class, and met eyes with Brit. He quickly looked away. He always felt scared when he noticed that she was looking at him - that being due to his reasoning that if someone could look through walls, they could look through anything.   
  
" Dude, you're being stupid," Adrian would say whenever Rob brought it up, " She probably just likes you, though I don't know why."  
  
" No," Rob would correct, "I'm serious, I mean, have you ever seen the way she looks at me? There's something going on there."  
  
Adrian would always roll his eyes after that, refusing to make the connection that was obvious to Rob.  
  
The history lesson dragged on and on about the importance of World War One that the students refused to acknowledge, until the time ran out. Then Storm made an announcement that caused the room to quake with excitement.  
  
" Okay class, next week we are going to be going on a field trip to the Nature Museum in New York City...," Storm began. She continued on for a while longer, but Rob couldn't hear her anymore. A museum? A field trip?  
  
At first, Rob was just about as excited as the rest of the students - okay, sure it was a museum, but when was the last time that the whole school was out in the 'real world?' It would be great!  
  
Until Rob's heart sank. Just wait, he thought to himself, how can I go? I'm red, for shit's sake. Rob listened for a moment to what Storm was saying, "...and it's everyone's responsibility to be able to control their powers. The world beyond this school is still very hostile to mutants - I've had to do a lot of convincing to be able to arrange this field trip - so everyone has to be on their absolute best behavior."  
  
Well, that practically ended it for Rob. How could he go to the museum if he was red? Instead, he'd have to spend the whole day just sitting in his room, while everyone else actually got to leave for once.  
  
Rob groaned aloud at his situation.  
  
" Okay, class is over," Storm was saying as everyone got up from their seats, " Rob, can I see you for a moment?"  
  
" Great," he muttered to himself, " Trouble again. How much shittier can this day get?"  
  
" Much shittier," Adrian whispered back (Rob had forgotten that even muttering under his breath couldn't go unheard), " Just imagine - the museum."  
  
Of course Rob probably would have agreed with Adrian if he could have gone - the museum probably would be dreadfully boring - but now that it was obvious that he couldn't, Rob desired it even more.  
  
" I'll meet up with you later," Rob replied as he dragged himself to Storm's desk.  
  
" Yes, ma'am," he said in the most depressing voice he could muster, which sounded funnier than it did serious since he was hardly ever upset about anything and wasn't skilled at making a believable 'sad voice.'  
  
" About the museum, you know it's-," Storm began, but Rob cut her off.  
  
" No, don't worry about it, I'm not going to go," Rob said. Storm was slightly relieved, because she knew that it would be very hard to let Rob go - she wanted to think of way that he could hide the fact that his skin was bright red. But even if Rob had reached the conclusion without anyone having to tell him he couldn't go, it was still upsetting to hear him say it.  
  
" Next time you plan a field trip, though, maybe we can go to a Red Sox game," Rob concluded, " So I can look like a crazy fan instead of just crazy."  
  
*  
  
Rob couldn't help but dwell on the fact that the whole school was going out on a field trip that he couldn't go on. He tried to put it out of his mind, but seeing that he did a lot of day dreaming in class, he was helplessly drawn to the subject.   
  
Classes dragged on for the rest of the day, every hour making Rob and Adrian more sleepy than the hour before it. They probably should stop going on midnight adventures, but they were far too fun. Before they knew it, school was over, they were free, and they began to make their way back to their rooms to plan what to do with their evening.  
  
Rob did his best to put the whole field trip thing behind him, and for the most part, he was successful in at least suppressing the fact that he was upset about it.  
  
" Hey guys," Bobby said as he joined them. He was eating Doritos out of a super-sized bag and making it as obvious as possible.  
  
" Hey!," Adrian said when he noticed.  
  
Bobby only smiled at them in a pleasing sense of victory, and rejoined his girlfriend, Rogue. The pair made their way towards the opposite side of the school, leaving Adrian and Rob standing as though in defeat.  
  
" The nerve!," Adrian said in a voice that would have been more appropriate for a much larger lie.  
  
Rob could only roll his eyes - he didn't want to get involved in another chip-kidnapping that would result in him becoming frozen.  
  
*  
  
  
  
Brit made her way back to her room as quickly as possible. She had a lot of homework to do before the evening rolled around, because at six o'clock her friends were going to try to sneak out of the school to go to the nearby mall. That is, only if they could convince Professor Xavier that they would be good (which wasn't too hard since all of them knew how important it was to hide their real identities) and only if they could convince one of the teachers to drive them.  
  
Brit reached her door - looking through it, she could tell that her room mate was already back from classes. She opened the door.  
  
" Hey Kelly," she said warmly.  
  
" Hey," Kelly replied, balling up her hand and forming another little version of herself. She closed her palm again - the girl was gone.  
  
" How was classes?," Kelly asked, even though she got the same answer every day.  
  
" Good, good," Brit said, and smiled, " Did you hear about the field trip?"  
  
" Yeah," Kelly cracked a smile, " It's going to be weird, you know, going back...to the world."  
  
" Tell me about it," Brit replied, " At least I'm not from around here, I'd hate to have to run into someone that I knew."  
  
" I wasn't from New York City," Kelly corrected, " I was from Delhi."  
  
" When you're from Idaho, everything in this state is New York City," Brit corrected. The girls giggled about it. Brit smiled as she sat on her bed, and started to unload the books and paper and pens that she would need to do her homework. Kelly continued to create little people in the palm of her hand. At one point, there were five of them walking around on her bed before she gathered them all back together.  
  
" I guess Rob's not going to go," Brit said, even they had already stopped talking about the museum.  
  
" Would you stop freaking about that guy?," Kelly said, " He's sooo not worth it. I went to school with him, remember?"  
  
" Tell me - he was absolutely gorgeous when he looked normal, right? - if he ever did look normal."  
  
" Look honey, if you want him, you can have him," Kelly replied, reaffirming the fact to her room mate that just because she knew Rob it didn't mean that she was interested in him.  
  
Brit didn't say anything, but just gave Kelly a look which easily read 'don't try to pretend you don't think he'd cute.'  
  
" Stop looking at me like that!," Kelly protested, " You know, you'd think that he'd be cool to you if you saved his life..."  
  
" He is cool to you," Brit explained, " You just give him the cold shoulder."  
  
" Uh... look, if you're going to lecture me about Robbie Vincennes..."  
  
Kelly just let the sentence finish itself, which was a poor way to end a threat. It was true though, Rob had always tried to be cool to her, but why should she care? He was a jock! He was only being cool to her because they weren't back at their old high school.  
  
Of course Kelly was basically making all of this up to explain to herself why she didn't want to like him, and Brit knew it. Brit also had the common sense to know when it wasn't worth pushing someone any further.  
  
They let the matter drop.  
  
*  
  
  
  
Brit left a little bit before six, and Kelly was alone in the room. She had strewn her homework all over her bed in an attempt to make herself remember to do it, but all it really ending up doing was reminding her how much she was trying to avoid it. She had hoped that if she tried long enough, she could create a little version of herself that was really good at biology to do her homework for her - but it seemed that there was an empty hole in her brain where 'science' was supposed to have been.  
  
She finally gave up trying to cheat on her homework as she sat down and began.  
  
No matter how hard she tried, her mind kept drifting back to Rob. She couldn't stop herself from thinking he was cute - of course, nearly every girl did, with or without the red skin - and that annoyed her even more. If she was going to have a crush on a guy, she wasn't willing to open up a huge competition for him - how immature was that?  
  
But of course, she thought his brother Todd was pretty cute, too. He was closer to her age anyways - she was 14 and he was 15, and they had become good friends during the time that they had spent together. And at least Todd wasn't a jock.  
  
Kelly rolled her eyes, as though emphasizing to herself the fact that Todd wasn't a jock.  
  
Kelly didn't know if mutations were hereditary - but silently in the privacy of her own room, she hoped that it would. She allowed herself a giddy, girlish giggle. It would be great if Todd became a mutant, too.  
  
There was a knock at the door, killing off all girly thoughts, and Kelly sat on her bed for a while as though unaccustomed to answering it. Brit was usually there - and she would be able to tell Kelly who was at the door before either of them opened it.  
  
Kelly sighed to herself, crossed the room to the door, and opened the door.  
  
It was Scoot.  
  
" Do you really need me to open the door for you?," Kelly asked, even though she knew that the little fairy was so small that she couldn't possibly turn the door knob.  
  
" Yes," Scoot answered as she fluttered into the room.  
  
" Biology homework," Scoot noticed as she landed on the bed.  
  
" Can you do it?," Kelly begged.  
  
Scoot gave Kelly a look that clearly read 'I'm-not-going-to-cheat-for-you.'  
  
" Okay, fine, I'll be honest, but it's a lot of work for someone who had their practical sense taken from them" Kelly said, referring to the fact that with Scoot now trapped outside of her, that part of her personality was hopelessly lost.  
  
  
  
" You know, it's not like you're cheating for me - you ARE me," Kelly added, hoping that she wouldn't have to do her homework alone.  
  
" No longer," Scoot answered.  
  
Kelly pretended as though she was working on the problems, though in all actuality, she was wondering why Scoot had arrived at all. Ever since Rob had somehow mustered the ability to put wings on Scoot, the ties that had held her to Kelly were somewhat lessened as now the fairy now had bonds also to Rob.  
  
The fact that Scoot was now very independent only made Kelly feel more rejected.  
  
Scoot knew exactly what Kelly was thinking.  
  
" It is a maternal instinct," Scoot explained, "To keep that which you create close to you."  
  
" Yeah, but you weren't meant to stop coming back into me. That's my gift, and he ruined it," Kelly asked sarcastically. That was another reason for hating Rob - he had infringed upon her own abilities and ruined them.  
  
" He didn't ruin your mutation," Scoot explained, already knowing exactly what Kelly had been thinking, " You created me in the first place."  
  
" Yeah, but now...," Kelly trailed off. How could she voice the fact that she wanted to say that she didn't want Scoot to be detached from her? She knew that Scoot didn't have emotions - she was almost like a machine - far too factual to be hurt by anything that Kelly could say. Yet how could she say it? Kelly thought the words over in her head and shuddered - was she really that dominating?  
  
" But now I can't return to you like I always used to," Scoot finished.  
  
" Out of all of them, you were always my favorite, and now it's like you're not even mine," Kelly explained sadly. It was a feeling that others would have found hard to relate to - a piece of her was now bond to someone else, and he distorted her creation in a way that she could never be able to be one with it again.  
  
" I am still yours," Scoot answered.  
  
  
  
***************  
  
Yeah, this chapter ends in a downer :( but things will be picking up in the chapters to come, so watch out!!!!!!!!! Let's see, in a few chapters or so, they will be going to the museum, and then all the real fun begins....  
  
please review, review, review! (and no, I don't mean to review three times) 


	8. I will go confidently

Wow, already to chapter 8. My how time flies! I just got back from a weekend trip to Montreal. So much fun! And on the way to Quebec, we drove through a town called Adrian, if that isn't funny, I don't know what is. Montreal is really a very cool town - if you ever get the chance to go there, I say do it. Of course, it can be a little hard DRIVING in Montreal because every single street sign in written in French!!!!!!!!! And if you don't know French, (like me) it's very funny. It was also funny since we had to cram 6 people in a 5 person car for 15 hours. You have no idea - everyone who lives with me (there are five of us that live in an apartment in Chicago) we all act like the typical 'guy dorm room' thing. Like, in the middle of the night, we just bust out nerf guns and start shooting everyone in their sleep. Things like that. So imagine how crazy it got for a whole car ride.  
  
I think the most memorable 'funny thing' that happened during our trip was while we were walking around, someone would hide behind a car, and then we'd all stop and think that they got lost, and they would be hiding for like, 5 minutes and we'd all be freaking out. There's also a lot of tagging that goes on in Montreal, and the cops don't paint over them. On the side of a church, someone had ACTUALLY tagged MY NAME!!!!!!!!! Deke! So I had to get a picture of it. How cool!!!!!!!!  
  
Uh, what else, what else. Thanx to everyone who has been reviewing this - really!  
  
Chapter 8!  
  
**********************************  
  
" That's a gift that Rob has," Professor Xavier was explaining with the same warmth that each of his words possessed, " He has quite remarkable optimism."  
  
Storm had to silently agree, though deep inside, she still felt guilty. Of course Xavier didn't see the look on Rob's face when he realized that it was near impossible for him to go on a field trip without frightening the museum's patrons. Of course Xavier didn't put hours worth of time arranging for a chance for the students to leave the school's grounds and somehow overlooking Rob entirely.   
  
" But the color of his skin is just a by-product of his inability to control his powers," Storm said, as if she was hoping that Xavier would take the hint and help Rob.  
  
" That will have to wait for another time," Xavier replied, ending the conversation.  
  
When Storm had left his presence, Charles Xavier addressed his own worries. Rob was adjusting to life at the school quite well, even if that included the rampage of pranks that he and Adrian pulled on everyone. Yet Rob still had no idea what the extent of his powers were.  
  
It wasn't like Xavier to purposely keep information from his students, but if Rob was not ready to deal with his true abilities, the results could be disastrous. It would be a large responsibility for some one of his age to be able to control and use morally. After all, Rob had already misused his powers once, when he severed the link between Kelly and Scoot.  
  
No, Rob would have to wait. Xavier just hoped that Rob wasn't feeling too let down.   
  
  
  
**********  
  
At the moment, Rob WAS feeling let down.  
  
" Come on, Rob," Adrian said as they made their way back to their room, " It's a Friday."  
  
" I know," Rob replied gloomily as if even the forecast of two school-free days wasn't enough to cheer him up. He wasn't really all that upset, just disappointed. Everyone in the whole school was going to be going out for a day - out in that world that they had been barred away from - and he wasn't going to be able to go.  
  
" It's just like you to get so upset about a museum. Come on, I would die for a chance not to go," Adrian said, laughing, " Everyone's going to think that you're a nerd if you keep this up."  
  
Rob laughed, " Yeah, that's right, I'm a nerd."  
  
" I know," Adrian replied, sensing that Rob was recovering from being upset, " Cry me a river for not being able to look at a bunch of moldy skeletons."  
  
" I'd probably end up getting some sort of caveman virus," Rob answered.  
  
" Yeah, everyone's got to get inoculated for that before we go. I heard three museum nerds already died from the caveman cold."  
  
" Not to mention the wooly mammoth epidemic that's been going around."  
  
" Or the over-sized-model-of-the-heart disease."  
  
" You mean over-sized-model-heart heart attack, right?" *  
  
" Or the 'progression of life' digression to death."  
  
Rob laughed about that last one for ages. Adrian smiled to himself in victory - goal accomplished.  
  
" Yeah, it's going to suck not being able to go," Rob said, but there was no hint of sadness in his voice, " You've got to promise you're going to do something bad when you're there."  
  
" And what? Give all those normal guys a reason to hate us?," Adrian said in a voice that clearly hinted at his all ready formed list of pranks to pull on people.  
  
" Just don't do anything I wouldn't do."  
  
" You mean, 'anything I wouldn't do if you weren't there to take the blame for me.'"  
  
" Yeah, that's what I meant," Rob answered, realizing that he was going to miss out on some of the best opportunities to pulling pranks with Adrian.  
  
" Hey, don't worry about it, okay?," Adrian said, " I'll bring you back a dinosaur tooth or something.."  
  
" Oh, I see, so I don't have to miss out catching the museum fever."  
  
*  
  
  
  
Later that night, Rob risked doing something that he normally didn't attempt to do this time of the day, and that was calling home. He still had not spoken to either of his parents about his mutation - for some reason, he just felt like it wasn't the time yet. How could he explain such a thing? It was far too awkward, and Rob was merely putting it off.  
  
But Rob had always had a good relationship with his brother. Even when he was homeless and traveling around New York City, he would call home in order to talk to Todd.   
  
The phone rang three times before someone answered it.  
  
" Hello?," it was Todd's voice. Rob sighed in relief.  
  
" Hey, Todd, it's me," Rob answered.  
  
" Hey!," Todd was obviously very happy to hear from him, " How are you?"  
  
" Uh, okay, I guess," Rob answered, " Is anyone else home?"  
  
" Mom's home, she's downstairs right now, and Dad isn't back from work yet."  
  
Rob looked up at the wall, where a clock hung above the doorway. It was almost a quarter past seven.  
  
" He's still at work?," Rob asked.  
  
" Yeah, he got promoted into this other job," Todd explained, " He's got to work really long hours all the time."  
  
" What job is he doing?"  
  
" I dunno. He doesn't really talk about it, but I think it's bothering him. He just looks, I don't know, spent."  
  
Rob was silent for a few minutes, thinking it over. It was clear that Todd was bothered by this.  
  
" Is it still with the university?," Rob wondered. Their father had been a professor of biology at the local community college. It was a job that had very little recognition in the large scheme of university professors, but Craig Vincennes had always loved his job. Yet Rob didn't know that he was doing such a great job that he would get promoted. He had been working at the same position for ten years without getting promoted. Why now? It was just very creepy.  
  
" Rob?," Todd asked. Rob hadn't realized that he was drifting off.  
  
" Oh, sorry," Rob said, shaking his head to chase away other thoughts, " That's just weird, you know? Why did he get promoted now?"  
  
" Well, I don't want you to freak out or anything, but it was like, the day after everyone found out about you. Just like that, and Dad's working in D.C."  
  
" In Washington D.C.?," Rob asked, " But that's like eight hours away."  
  
" Yeah," Todd answered, " He isn't home much, but that was obvious, right?"  
  
*  
  
Rob talked to his brother for another hour, before he ended the conversation and turned back to his room. He had a lot to think about, and nearly all his thoughts centered upon one fear - was his father promoted simply because Rob was a mutant? And if that was the case, what did they want with him?  
  
Someone was just about to find out...  
  
**  
  
There was that familiar sound of keys rattling, pushed through the lock, the door swinging open. Todd had heard it so many times before as he lay awake, waiting for sleep. He leaned over in his bed and peered at the digital alarm clock on the other side of his room - it was 2 in the morning.  
  
  
  
It was a Friday, and so naturally, his dad would come home for the weekend. Well, part of the weekend. The problem with this new job was that it took FOREVER to drive there, and so Craig Vincennes had to stay at a place in Washington D.C. It was clearly a chore for Craig to pull himself away from his family and drive to work every Sunday night.  
  
Todd couldn't understand why his father would do such a thing, unless there was something about the job that was far too appealing. Or too dangerous.  
  
Todd lay still and listened as his dad made his way up the stairs. There wasn't any other noise in the whole house. His mom was sick - she had been ill ever since Rob had left - and so she was deeply asleep in an ailing dream that only sickness can bring.  
  
Try as he could, Todd had been very good about not asking too many questions about his dad's new job. It was obviously very hard for his dad to deal with it, and Todd did not want to dwell on the matter too much. He was afraid that it would have something to do with Rob - could his dad get in trouble for having a son that was a mutant?  
  
But tonight, Todd could hardly contain his burning desire to know what it was that his dad was going through. They had always gotten along okay - but Craig Vincennes had always favored Rob. Rob the football star. Todd had never had any interest in sports, and he could hardly find things to relate to his dad with.   
  
But tonight, Todd felt afraid. Afraid of what all of this meant.  
  
He had to ask.  
  
He got out of bed as quietly as he could, and tip-toed to the door. His dad had already made it to the top of the stairs, in a moment, he would be in his own bedroom and Todd would have lost his chance.  
  
" Dad?," Todd whispered out into the hallway.  
  
There was silence.  
  
" Dad?"  
  
There was only silence.  
  
" Yes, Todd."  
  
Todd jumped at that - he had been turning back to retreat into his room.  
  
" I just...I heard you come in."  
  
" Yes....well, I'm home now."  
  
" For good?"  
  
"No! Just for the weekend." He sounded disappointed.  
  
" Dad, can I ask-"  
  
" About my job? Don't."  
  
" Sorry," Todd mumbled, and turned back into his room. He reran the conversation in his head - it had been stupid to think that he could have gotten his dad to talk to him about this. Todd retreated from the threshold in defeat, wishing that he could have just gone back in time and stopped himself from doing even attempting to talk to his dad.  
  
Todd fell asleep rather quickly that night, regardless of the many times that he shook his head and punished himself for brining up his curiosity about his father's job. The next morning he slept in, it being a Saturday and the first chance of the week that he actually COULD sleep in.  
  
But he awoke to an unusual sound, his eye lids fluttering in the early morning to the sound of a football game on TV.  
  
Todd slowly pulled himself into a sitting position - slow because ten in the morning is still too early to wake up for a teenager, and partially because he was pissed that he had to have been woken up by the TV. It was taking a few minutes for the reality of what he was seeing to sink in. Who turned on the TV? he grumbled to himself as he mechanically got out from bed to turn it off.  
  
There was a football game on the TV, the same football game that Rob and his team had won to place themselves in the State finals. Todd couldn't even remember turning on the TV. But it wasn't something that was being aired on the local town channel, and his family didn't have a camcorder so it wasn't something that they had videotaped.   
  
On the screen, the view panned away from the game, to where both of Todd's parents were sitting. They were smiling, happy. Cheering on their son. Todd stared at the screen, hardly recognizing the fact that what was on the screen was his own memories.  
  
Todd couldn't even think. He simply couldn't. There had to be a mistake.  
  
He closed his eyes, but when he opened them again - the view was different. On the screen, he saw his locker at school. But then, the view panned, and Kelly was standing there.   
  
" Look, I know your brother is a mutant," the girl was saying on the screen, her voice sounding strange as it came out from the TV.  
  
" No, shit, everybody in school knows that," Todd heard himself reply through the television. Todd couldn't believe it. His face was pressed as close as it could be to the screen as the memory of his first conversation with Kelly played out before him.  
  
His heart was racing out of control, yet a feeling of unpronounced joy was swelling inside his heart. There was nothing to deny it now - he was a mutant.  
  
****************************************************  
  
* this line is for you snitter : ) I still remember our recreation of a heart attack at the Field Museum (where there was a large over-sized-model-of-the-heart.) Oh, how did people stare.  
  
Yeah! " Oh, Excitement she wrote!" so review!!!!!!!!!! the next chapter should be up in a few days!  
  
payce!  
  
deke-core 


	9. To the deepest abysses

Well, well, well... Chapter 9. My how things are progressing.... Don't worry, things are really going to start to pick up in this chapter - believe you me! Because this is the museum chapter! And that means that the soldiers are coming very very soon! Peppermint!  
  
Thanx to the reviewers time!  
  
Alison (altickle1571@aol.com) I'm sorry that my story made you neglect your responsibilities - but that still makes me feel cool that my story could do something like that!  
  
Remnants - I'm glad that you liked Todd's power - honestly - I was SSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOO worried that people weren't going to like his character.... I was really shocked that so many people really were excited to see that he was a mutant now!  
  
Lori - I'm glad that you thought I created a cool power - awesome!  
  
Elfchick - Your review made me smile so much - I'm glad that you thought that Todd's power was really imaginative... I just keep thinking that someone's going to read my fic and just think " Oh, that's stupid." since it's an OC story, thanx for the encouragement!  
  
Snitter - what can I say? You've been there from page one when we created Rob together! Your support has always brightened my day.  
  
Wolvie's Gurl - your reviews always make me laugh : )   
  
Escaflowne - Your review was the best one that I think I've ever gotten. You were really helpful with your review, and I'm glad that someone's noticed that this is a good OC story! Yeah!  
  
shadow wind - I really loved your review, too! this chapter, you'll see what happens to Todd and more hints at his dad's new job. the next chapter we'll explore a bit more of Rob's 'vast' powers - glad yer enjoying this! : )   
  
And, as a last note - this whole chapter was written to the TROJAN RECORDS MOD REGGAE BOX SET!!!! Yes! Let the dancing commence!!!!!!!!!  
  
Chapter 9  
  
*************************  
  
Brit hurried down the hall, anticipation pulsing through out her body as it was the morning of the museum field trip. The feeling was thick on the air, as nearly all the students were looking forward to this day - the day that they would be going out into the world, far from the safety of their school. But of course not all the students were going.  
  
Brit approached a corner, - seeing through the wall, she saw that someone was standing right on the other side, as if waiting to jump out and scare her. She turned the corner, prepared NOT to be scared by someone jumping out at her, and came face to face with what appeared to be a stranger. She jumped back in alarm, for she was not used to seeing strangers at the school.  
  
The person she was facing was a boy who appeared to be around 17 or 18 years old. He was smiling at her as if she should have known him.  
  
"W-Who are you?," Brit asked in alarm. Her question was met by a roar of laughter.  
  
The stranger was laughing, and in a split second, Brit understood why. The stranger was Rob - at the moment, he let go of his power and his skin became bright red once again. Once Rob let go of his power, Adrian suddenly appeared before Brit - who was also laughing.  
  
Brit probably would have been mad at them, but something else was on her mind - that's what Rob looks like when he's 'normal?' Her heart fluttered.  
  
Rob and Adrian were still laughing uncontrollably, and Brit returned to the present. She frowned at the two boys, and realized that she had fallen for yet another one of their pranks. She smiled knowingly at Rob, and walked past the pair.  
  
" Nice boxers," she said in an undertone to Rob. The laughter died as Rob's face dropped.  
  
*********  
  
Rob looked out the window of Xavier school as the bus drove from the school, bearing children away to the museum . For the first time since he heard about the field trip, he smiled at the fact that they were leaving. Standing next to him, Adrian was also smiling.  
  
" Ah, school all to ourselves," Adrian said, stretching, as if he was warming-up his body for the day to come.   
  
Storm had flinched this morning when Adrian announced that he felt sick and couldn't go on the field trip. She KNEW that if Adrian and Rob were left in the school by themselves for a whole day that havoc would erupt, but on the other hand, it would be better to leave Rob with company since it was her fault that he couldn't go.  
  
In the end, she let Adrian stay back.  
  
And he was very happy about that.  
  
" So, what do we do first?," Adrian was whispering, and in an undertone, he added, " Everyone's gone - there's never going to be a chance like this in a thousand years."  
  
" Everyone IS gone," Rob replied, his voice hinting that he already had a plan.  
  
" Yeah," Adrian answered.  
  
" Everyone's gone except for us," Rob said as the school bus outside disappeared entirely from view, " I think we need to go on our own field trip."  
  
*********  
  
They were probably pushing their luck - after all, it's hard to go by unnoticed when your skin is the color of a fire engine truck - but at the moment, they didn't care. They were young and there was no one from the school to get them in trouble. It was a perfect opportunity that would not come around again - they would not miss the chance.  
  
Adrian 'ported them out of the school, past the surrounding grounds, and to the closest town they knew. He wasn't used to such a strain.  
  
"Give me a second," Adrian said, double bent over and out of breath , "I feel like I just completed a marathon."   
  
"What did you do, finish in last place?," Rob said, also wheezing for air - he wasn't used to 'porting this much either.  
  
Adrian opened his mouth as if to say something, but he was breathing so hard no words would come out. After a second he filled in with, " Give me a minute for the come back."  
  
They stood for a few more minutes, catching their breath.   
  
" Remind me to find another way into town next time," Rob said as he finally felt like he could function normally.  
  
" Hey, I'm working on it," Adrian replied, and he looked around where he was. They were behind a strip mall, which was good for them because there was no one in sight. Adrian stood still for a moment, listening. There was a lot of traffic just beyond the strip mall, and plenty of people shopping, but none of them were heading in their direction.  
  
" I wonder what stores we're behind," Rob thought aloud, remembering the sort of treasures he used to find when he was on the run. Adrian caught him eying the dumpsters.  
  
" It's all yours," Adrian replied as he began to walk off in the other direction.  
  
" Oh, yeah?," Rob said with a devious smile, " I dare you to look in one."  
  
Adrian scoffed at the threat, " Yeah, like you're going to be fair." Rob stood where he was, smiling - the dare was still on. Adrian shook his head - he KNEW that Rob was going to make him see a dead body or something, but it would still be pretty funny.  
  
Adrian walked up to the nearest dumpster, trying to stifle his laugher - it wasn't like Rob could have heard it anyway. Adrian prepared himself to see something really bad, and he peered over the edge of the dumpster.  
  
Adrian collapsed in laughter, and behind him Rob was laughing, too. Adrian had been so focused upon seeing something really scary that he wasn't geared up to see what he had - a dumpster that was completely devoid of everything except himself who merely looked around himself and then shrugged at the lack of scary things.  
  
When the laughter died down, they decided to walk around to the front of the strip mall to see exactly where they were. Rob kept his head down - he was wearing pants instead of shorts so that no one would notice that his skin was bright red. Adrian looked at the store fronts.  
  
Adrian whispered to Rob, " Hey, they don't throw away TVs, do they?"  
  
" Sure, sometimes," Rob answered.  
  
" Okay, I am so there," Adrian said, and Rob looked up for a brief second. They were in front of a Radio Shack, and the front window was nothing but a display of TVs, all turned to the same channel. It was the news.  
  
" Do they really think that they can get someone to buy a TV with the news playing?," Adrian asked, ridiculing their sales technique.   
  
They were about to leave when something flashed across the screen that made them stop dead in their tracks. Both boys stared at the series of screens with mouths wide open, the text ran across the screen - ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON PRESIDENT BY MUTANT.   
  
After a few seconds, the reality sunk in.  
  
" Maybe we should be heading back home," Adrian said, realizing that if anyone else saw this news report, Rob was going to be in serious trouble.  
  
" Yeah," Rob said back, his voice almost depleted of certainty. What kind of a mutant would do something like this? Didn't this mutant understand what kind of a backlash something like this would cause? How stupid was this one?  
  
" Come on," Adrian said, turning back the direction that they had come, " Let's go."  
  
But they hadn't left fast enough.   
  
A guy who looked like he should have been in a bar at that moment had his hand on the door handle to Radio Shack when he looked at the couple of boys who looked like they should have been in school at that moment. He let go of the door - all thoughts of going inside forgotten.  
  
One of those boys was red!  
  
"Hey!," the man shouted as if he wanted everyone within a five mile radius to hear him. Adrian wheeled around, covering his ears at the loudness of the man's voice. Instinctually, Rob also had looked at the man, which gave himself away. Other people who were walking by looked down at the commotion and saw the two mutants.  
  
"Oh my god!," a nearby lady screamed, grabbed her young son, and ran back to her car. At her cue, many other people took off towards their cars, and a lot more people began to scream out in terror. Adrian dropped to his knees, wincing, his hands covering his ears - this was far too much noise for him to bear.  
  
The man who had shouted at them took a few threatening steps towards Rob, who was still standing absolutely frozen.  
  
" You freaks think you can just get away with this shit?," the man shouted, pointing to the TV. Rob looked over at the screen, where there was a clip that had been taken from the security cameras in the White House of a blue skinned mutant teleporting all over the place.  
  
Rob looked back at the man, who appeared to be debating whether or not it was safe to taunt a mutant. But the man's love of country overrode his fear of the mutant before him.  
  
The man took another step towards Rob, shouting at him, " You think you can just go around EXTERMINATING us? Like you freaks are better?"  
  
The man took another step forward, but he didn't have to do anything. Another person who had been watching the whole ordeal ran up behind Rob, and knocked him to the ground. Who knows what they would have done, but when Rob fell to the ground, he was within Adrian's reach. Before anyone else in the strip mall could do anything, both boys vanished from sight.  
  
Adrian teleported away just as the television showed a clip of Night crawler doing the same.  
  
They left a crowd of people, now more affirmed in their fear and distrust of mutants than ever before.  
  
***********  
  
Todd was pacing in his room. He could hardly even remember having been so indecisive before. He badly wanted to tell his parents that he was a mutant - how could he hide it after he had spent so much time trying to convince Rob not to? But now that it was heaped upon his shoulders, he so greatly wished that he could just shrug it off.  
  
But that wouldn't be right, would it?  
  
Todd finally stopped pacing but it didn't help clear his mind. He was scared - a lot more scared than he would admit - but there was no other reaction he could feel. His mother had been perennially ill since Rob had left. The fear of not knowing where her son was and knowing that he was a mutant in a very hostile world had degraded her into a state of extreme despair.  
  
Todd would often hear her mutter to herself, " He had such a potential for a good life...Why would he give that up?"  
  
How could Todd do anything that would upset her even further?  
  
Then, there was his father. Ever since Craig Vincennes had taken that promotion and started working in D.C., he had continuously shut himself out of his family's world. It was as if he was a stranger in the lives of those that he loved - but even more scary, it appeared as if he preferred it that way.  
  
Todd was alone in his room - sitting now rather than pacing. He was sitting on his bed, staring at the door debating with himself. It wasn't like him to WANT to hide things from his parents - he always tried to be honest with them, even if it meant that he would end up in trouble. And how could he hide the fact that he was a mutant when he had bothered Rob so long about being truthful to his parents?  
  
Todd turned his eyes away from the door and turned his attention to the television. On the screen, he recognized the memory that was being played - when he was five and he and his brother had gone to Disney World. Yeah, Disney World was cheesy as hell, but just watching the memories brought back a flood of emotions. It made him smile - Todd had almost forgotten those memories, yet now replayed on the TV, he had to regret to say that he still felt the same. He still felt that same sort of innocent belief of right and wrong.  
  
And Todd felt like he had finally decided on what was right.  
  
He left the comfort of his room in search of his parents - all predispositions of uncertainty vanished. He was confident that he was doing the right thing.  
  
Todd reached the bottom of the stairs and nearly ran into his father.  
  
" Hey!," Craig said in surprise.  
  
" Sorry," Todd mumbled. What a great way to begin a conversation like this.  
  
" Hey, Dad, can we talk?," Todd asked somewhat shyly.  
  
" Not now, Todd, I'm very busy," Craig returned and started to ascend the stairs to retreat into his study.  
  
" Dad, please! I need to talk to you," Todd protested. This was suddenly not as easy as he had hoped.  
  
" I have a lot of work to do," Craig said, stopping half way up the stairs as if to illustrate his point.  
  
" But - ," Todd began in a frustrated voice - his dad was going too far - but was cut off.  
  
" Not now!," Craig boomed, but that was about all that Todd could take.   
  
" I'm a mutant, too, Dad!," Todd said - and the impact of those words was deafening. Todd looked up at his dad, his nerve suddenly evading him, and his dad stared down at him, still only half way up the stairs. They stared at each other for a few moments that dragged on as if they were days.   
  
" Forget I said that," Todd quickly mumbled, kicking himself for thinking that this would be easy.  
  
" Why did you say that?," Craig asked, but his voice was filled with an untold emotion - as if someone had just announced his own death sentence. Todd couldn't think of anything to answer that with, and merely shrugged.  
  
" Why did you say that?!," Craig repeated - but this time the fear that had been on his voice was gone. In it's place was rage.  
  
" I...," Todd had no idea what to say - who could have?  
  
But that answer was not what Craig wanted to hear. He started to descend the stairs, approaching Todd in the most threatening manner imaginable.  
  
" Damn it, answer me!," Craig was shouting. Todd didn't know what to do - he had never seen his Dad this angry before. " Don't you know what this means? God damn it, Todd! Why did you have to do that?"  
  
" I just wanted to tell you," Todd answered meekly, all previous courage lost. He was not preparing for this sort of reaction, he didn't understand why his dad was acting like this.  
  
Craig clearly did not want to be told about Todd's mutation. He had reached the bottom of the stairs, letting Todd's last comment sink in. Months upon months of anxiety had been building up in Craig ever since he had learned that Rob was a mutant, and this was the last straw. Todd had no idea what had been going on with his father's work, what Todd was now risking by telling his dad that he was a mutant.   
  
But Craig did know, and the fact that Todd had willingly thrown himself into it only fueled his frustration.  
  
" Sorry that it came out like that, but-," Todd began, but he never finished. It was all that Craig could take.  
  
With a driving force, Craig punched his son as hard as he could. The blow knocked Todd right to the ground - he had not been expecting anything remotely close to that. Todd merely laid on the ground, staring up as his dad in fear and confusion.  
  
" Do you have any idea what they're planning to do?," Craig shouted as if to justify his anger, but he never gave a hint of an answer. Of course, Todd couldn't understand what kind of danger he had placed himself in by telling his father that he was a mutant. Craig couldn't say anything, and he merely turned and climbed the stairs once again. In a moment, he was in his study.  
  
Todd still laid on the ground, his heart racing so fast he thought it would make him sick. It burned - that hurt, it burned deep inside of him, a feeling that could not be easily consoled.  
  
But he made up his mind in those moments of burning betrayal. With a new found sense of determination, Todd grabbed his backpack and stormed out the door. Rob had been right just to run away.  
  
Todd was going to find Xavier's school.  
  
*******************  
  
Okay, so this is the end of this chapter. Well, that's a little obvious.  
  
Please review, review!  
  
Next chapter will be up soon! Much luv, Deke. 


	10. And having melted

Okay - this is the chapter where everyone comes back from the museum, Rob accidentally dips into his true powers, and this is also the chapter before chapter 11, which is when the soldiers come. I've been wondering if Rob, Adrian, Brit and Kelly (and Scoot) should escape or should get captured - any suggestions would so rock!  
  
Thanx to everyone who have been reviewing this, for all the advice and everything. Seriously, it helps me out a lot! cheers!  
  
Chapter 10   
  
**************  
  
Adrian collapsed as soon as he reached the school. He had ported himself and Rob all the way back to their haven, back to the school, and they both fell to the ground with exhaustion on the cool grass outside. Rob closed his eyes tightly at the surging nausea that had engulfed him, and reaffirmed his hatred of teleporting.  
  
Adrian felt his nerves smoothing out now that they were alone in relative quietness. He hated that situation - everyone screaming. Even times when he was in a crowded room with everyone talking would bother him, but that he had learned to deal with. This was much worse. But now, there were lesser noises - the grass bending in the wind, birds singing far away, Rob catching his breath close by. There was a ringing in Adrian's ears, but little harm beyond that.  
  
Neither of them said anything for a while, both of them regaining their breath and both of them reflecting on what they had seen on the news. This could only mean trouble for them and their kind. Hostile reactions were sure to be only a scratch on the surface of what was to come.  
  
" Come on," Rob said, at last getting up to his feet. Neither of them had to say anything about what they had seen or what they felt. It was a mutual understanding between them.  
  
Rob couldn't stand 'porting back into the school, so he walked to the front door and let himself in. Adrian was already waiting for him inside. They exchanged glances.  
  
" Shit," Rob said, just then thinking of something, " I hope the others are okay."  
  
Adrian had forgotten about them - how were they dealing with the news at the museum? Of course, the Professor had gone with them. He would not let a situation get out of hand. Rob hoped that he was correct, and that everyone else was all right.  
  
They got their answers soon enough.  
  
Within an hour, the bus returned from the museum. As soon as the students began to pour into the school, they were asking questions.  
  
" Did you see the news?," Rob asked into the crowd.  
  
" Yeah!," came an answer. It was Kelly, and she was pushing herself through the mass towards the two boys who had stayed behind. Brit came with her.  
  
" Are you okay?," Rob asked Kelly when she finally reached him.  
  
" We left when the report came on, so nobody had a chance to react to us being there after seeing the news," Kelly explained.   
  
" Yeah," Brit added , " Well, Bobby and John got into it."  
  
" They did? Again?," Rob replied.  
  
" Well, that was surely the time and place for it," Adrian said, rolling his eyes, " What did they do?"  
  
" Someone asked John to use his lighter -," Kelly began to explain.  
  
" Again," Adrian interrupted.  
  
" - so, John decides to catch the kid's arm on fire - ," Kelly continued.  
  
" Well, of course, that's common sense," Adrian interrupted again.  
  
" - and Bobby blasts the kid with a whole bunch of ice - ," Kelly continued again.   
  
" That would probably be why they call him Iceman," Adrian returned.  
  
" Can you just shut up for a minute?," Kelly asked, obviously annoyed. Adrian only smiled in response.  
  
" So Professor Xavier freezes the whole room," Kelly said, and then paused, looking at Adrian. He only smiled at her. " Well," she said expectedly.  
  
" Go on," Adrian said. Kelly rolled her eyes.  
  
" Everyone who wasn't a mutant just stopped," Brit picked up where Kelly left off, " And that's when the news came on. We got out of there before Professor Xavier let everyone go."  
  
" So no one had a chance to react to the news while we were there - ," Kelly started.  
  
" Ah, reaction time is always so much slower in a museum," Adrian interrupted again.  
  
" Oh, grow up," Kelly said before she stormed off to her room.  
  
*************  
  
A few minutes passed, and the lobby of the school was clearing of students. Some of them were still milling around, but most of them had already moved on to their own rooms. Rob, Adrian, and Brit left the lobby and retreated to one of the lounges - which was also the most popular one since it was connected to the kitchen.  
  
Today, it was sort of crowded - it was obvious that some of the students were desperate to hear what was going on in the news as there was a group of about 7 kids all gathered around the television.   
  
" Has he been caught yet?," Rob asked the group when they entered the lounge.  
  
" No," a younger girl that Rob didn't know by name answered.  
  
Before Rob could say anything else, three other students entered the lounge - Bobby, Rogue, and John. It was clear that Bobby and John were having some sort of an argument.  
  
" - what makes you think that?," John was nearly shouting, his question directed at Bobby.  
  
" Come on, John," Rogue said, her beautiful southern accent obvious with every word she spoke, " Don't you have respect for anyone's who not a mutant?"  
  
John thought about it for a second, and smiled when he replied, " No, why should I?"  
  
Rob, Adrian, and Brit were watching them all the while. Rob felt a pang of anger towards John when he replied to Rogue's question, and knowing what had happened at the museum only reaffirmed Rob's belief that John cared nothing for people.   
  
Bobby was turning to say something back to John, but Rob stopped him.  
  
" Hey, Pyro," Rob started, smiling broadly, " Did you drop this?"  
  
In his hand, he held the distinctive lighter that John ALWAYS carried with him.  
  
John was extremely surprised to see that Rob had his lighter - he must have dropped it somehow - he ran a hand over his pockets just to make sure.  
  
" Give that back!," John demanded.  
  
Rob only smiled in reply, playing with the lighter for a few moments and finally catching a flame - it was most definitely a threat, " Why should I?"   
  
Well, to anyone else in the room, that was painfully obvious. Nobody would dare take John's lighter, refuse to give it back, and THEN light a flame with it. Perhaps Rob wanted to feel a greater empathy towards the boy who had his arm caught on fire in the museum.   
  
John only smirked at the threat. With one quick snap of his arm, he reached out towards that flame - hoping to stretch out and feel a connection with it, which would lead him to be able to manipulate it. But he felt nothing. Absolute emptiness.  
  
John's face dropped. For a brief moment, he was gripped with a deafening fear - that somehow he had LOST his powers. But then, there was laughter.  
  
Rob was laughing beyond control, and he broke away from his powers. John had his lighter the whole time. It was all an illusion. And after that became obvious to everyone else in the lounge, they all began laughing too. John had been had, and he hid his own embarrassment with anger.  
  
" Just like you," John said, each uttered word writhed in anger, " Fine, if you don't want to play fair..."  
  
" You don't even DESERVE to have powers," Rob shouted back.  
  
That did it. John flipped open the lid to his Zippo, lit a flame, and was just about to catch the fire in his hand to turn Rob into a pile of charcoal when he suddenly yelped in pain and surprise. Instead of catching the flame, the fire merely burned his hand. Some kids in the lounge laughed, until silence gripped them all. It wasn't an illusion this time.  
  
Pyro really did burn himself.  
  
As soon as John had shouted in pain, Rob had become disconnected with the focus that he had. He shook his head as if clearing his mind - he never remembered gripping a feeling with his powers like that before. John, in the meantime, looked up at Rob, as if trying to make sure that this wasn't an illusion.   
  
" What did you do?!," John shouted at him, and his eyes darted over to where Kelly was standing. Scoot was sitting comfortably on her shoulder. Everyone knew that someone Rob had somehow altered Kelly's ability to bring Scoot back into herself. Panic gripped John as he lit his lighter again. This time, he caught the flame just perfectly.  
  
His attention was brought back to Rob. Anger coursed through every fiber of his being for being humiliated in front of the school, but the fear that Rob had momentarily taken away his power was much more powerful an emotion.  
  
" Forget this," John offered as an explanation as he turned and left the lounge. All attention shifted to Rob.  
  
" He's a jerk anyway," Rob muttered and he stormed off towards his room. Once he was alone - Rob was able to explore his own thoughts. What HAD he done to John? He thought back to that moment. He had been so angry at Pyro - how could anyone think so lowly of non-mutants? Rob had been lost in thought, and somehow, he felt an overwhelming emotion sweep over him, and he had been helpless to fight it.  
  
During that time, though, he had done something to John, or John's powers to be more specific. He remembered how he felt - that John shouldn't even HAVE powers - and then suddenly, John didn't.  
  
Rob shivered for a second. What if that was a power that he had? The ability to alter mutations? After all, isn't that what had happened with Kelly?  
  
Rob almost screamed out when he realized that. He was responsible for what had happened to Kelly and Scoot, and he nearly did the same thing to John. And now his own question came back to haunt him.  
  
Could HE be trusted with his powers?  
  
****************  
  
Yeah! Next chapter, the soldiers descend upon the school! Oh, excitement she wrote!  
  
And if you have any suggestions on what should happen to our mutant crew - Rob, Adrian, Kelly & Scoot, and Brit - whether they should get captured or not - don't be afraid to add that to yer review!  
  
hugs, and next chappie should be up in a few days!  
  
deke 


	11. The heart of the shadows

Okay, okay - this is the chapter where the soldiers come ( as if I haven't been saying that enough times) And also - Okay, I live in Chicago, which means that I get free issues of the Onion! Which is the best source of news ever!!!!!!! Even if it's all fake!!!!!! And it made me laugh because they had a whole section about fire safety, and it made me think about our dear friend Mr. Pyro --- the best 'fire safety tip' was : " Remember, the old adage " fight fire with fire" does not apply to non-metaphorical fires." YES!!!!! I love the Onion!!!!!!  
  
Especially the article titled " Christ returns to NBA"  
  
Thanks to all you reviewers!  
  
Chapter 11  
  
*****  
  
Once again, Adrian could not sleep - which wasn't highly unusual. As soon as his body would start to fade to dreams, his natural defenses against noises he could usually block out would drop and he would be bombarded with the simplest of sounds, preventing him from sleeping.   
  
Tonight, however, he could hear a sound that he had never heard before. He lay in his bed, his face screwed up with confusion as he listened.   
  
There were feet - lots of feet, all of them creeping around in the school. He could tell that the owners of those feet were trying as best as they could to walk quietly. At least to Adrian, they could never hope to succeed.  
  
And then there was a sound that he could never have recalled hearing before. It was a metallic sound - the sound of cloth-covered hands gripping metal. Adrian listened, as confused as he could be. And he had thought he had heard every sound there was to hear!  
  
The only thing he could think it even remotely sounded like was -  
  
But that was impossible. Or was it?  
  
A wave of fear passed over Adrian, because there was only one answer that he could come up with to explain the noises that he heard, and that answer made him afraid. Adrian slowly got out of bed and tip toed (which was pointless since he never made a sound) to where Rob was sleeping comfortably in his watery bed. This time, he pulled no jokes. Adrian dipped his hand into the water, and nudged Rob.   
  
Rob woke up, and sat up in his bed. He looked somewhat confused - Adrian NEVER was decent enough to wake him up in a polite way - but tonight, Adrian didn't look right at all. In all honesty, he looked really freaked out.  
  
" What's wrong," Rob said yawning and getting out of bed.  
  
" Shhh!," Adrian whispered in a pleading voice, " They'll hear you."  
  
" Who will?," Rob whispered back as he softly walked across the room and began to pull on his familiar gray hoodie and cargo shorts.  
  
" Can't you hear it?," Adrian asked, whispering so softly even Rob had a hard time hearing him.  
  
" Hear what?," Rob asked back, hoping that Adrian just wasn't pulling a joke on him. But he couldn't have been - he looked near to panic.  
  
" There are people here," Adrian whispered back, " Thirty or forty of them. They're all trying to be quiet."  
  
Rob thought about that for a second - who would come to the school this late at night? Were they other mutants who wanted to find safety in the school from the outside world?  
  
" Rob," Adrian whispered, " I think they have guns."  
  
" What?," Rob asked, " How do you know?"  
  
" I hear them," Adrian explained, " They shake in their hands, I can hear the metal. What else could it be?"  
  
" Have you ever even HEARD a gun before?," Rob asked, replacing the word 'seen' with 'heard.'  
  
" On the TV, sure," Adrian said.  
  
" But you hate the TV," Rob argued - and that was right. Adrian usually did whatever he could do NOT to watch the television. He would always ridicule the noises that he heard on the screen - there was no way that a noise played through that box could ever come close to the beauty of sounds that Adrian heard all around him. To him, television was a joke.  
  
" But I can hear it!," Adrian pleaded. He had to have Rob believe him, because right now he was terribly afraid that something very, VERY bad was just about to happen.  
  
" Okay, fine," Rob finally consented, for this was no time to be arguing, " What do you want to do?"  
  
Adrian didn't say anything, he was listening.  
  
" They stopped," Adrian said, listening as hard as he could, " In the lounge....." Adrian grew quiet as he listened. He didn't utter a single syllable for a few seconds, and Rob grew restless until,   
  
" Oh, god!" Adrian said in a voice loud enough to be considered a shout from him, " They just shot someone! They just shot someone! In the lounge! I heard it, Rob! They just -"  
  
Adrian grew quiet once again, stretching his hearing as far as it would go, for now he heard a new set of noises. Growling, metal punching through skin with a very distinctive shkint! noise, feet trampling, someone falling to the ground, hearts racing, a body thrust against the wall, words, words too overcome by other sounds to be heard, puncturing, flesh torn by metal. A gasp, death. There was death.  
  
Rob had been watching Adrian listening. His eyes darted back and forth, his breath quickened, and his jaw dropped slightly as if he had been watching the whole thing taking place in front of him.  
  
" Someone just died," Adrian whispered finally, looking at Rob with an untold fear. Adrian suddenly snapped his head in the direction of the door.   
  
Rob ran to the door in just a few steps, flung it open as quickly as he could, and looked out into the hallway.   
  
" Hey!," he whispered, reached his hand out, and pulled Brit into the room. She was in just as bad of hysterics as Adrian had been.  
  
" There are soldiers! What are they doing here?," she sobbed, " They're everywhere. They have guns. Logan is killing them. He's killing them all!"  
  
Rob looked helpless at Brit, and then to Adrian. They were both in extreme distress.  
  
" Look," Rob said to Brit, " Just don't look through the walls, okay? Just turn it off."  
  
Brit closed her eyes, mentally telling herself not to see through the walls. She opened her eyes again, and she could see normally - they were enclosed in a room. There was security in that false feeling of surrounding, but she still could not forget what she saw.  
  
" We have to reach the underground tunnels," Brit said quietly, her voice still riddled with the shock she was going through from watching someone - from quite a distance - getting killed.  
  
" Adrian, can you port us out of here?," Rob asked, but he never got an answer.  
  
Just as soon as the question left Rob's lips, an ear shattering scream sliced it's way through the relative quiet. Rob and Brit were double bent, hands over ears - but they could handle it. Adrian winced his way through a few unbearable seconds, but the sound was far too much for him. It knocked him out cold.  
  
And just as soon as it had begun, there was silence.  
  
Rob looked over to Adrian, who was lying inert on the ground. He had been expecting that much - but now was not the time. They needed to escape. He ran over to Adrian's side, and hopelessly tried to shake his friend awake.  
  
" No use," he told Brit, " He's out cold."  
  
"What are we going to do?," Brit asked, still trying to stifle her desperate sobs.  
  
But then, just then, Rob heard something. There were guns. He heard a rally of gun fire, screams, children running. So Adrian had been right. Up until then, there was still no way for him to know for sure what WAS really going on. Up until then, Rob had stayed calm by putting up the defense that Adrian was just hearing things that he couldn't understand - it had happened before. But now, the cruel reality of their situation hurtled through all the barriers he had built to keep himself level headed.  
  
He did not know what to do.  
  
Brit had forgotten what he had asked her to do, and she was looking through the walls again. She pointed at places that would have made sense to her - down at her feet, the far corner of the room, directly through the ceiling above - with a look on her face that clearly showed that she could see SOMETHING.  
  
Then, she turned her attention to a different wall, and her jaw dropped.  
  
" There's a helicopter!," she exclaimed, " They brought a helicopter."  
  
" Okay!," Rob shouted. He felt like he the only sane person left, surrounded by crazy people who were seeing and hearing things that just weren't there.  
  
It was clear that they were going to have to get out of the school. But how? Adrian was down for the count, for the moment at least, and they couldn't exactly wait for him to come to his senses. Rob was standing in a dumbfounded sense of blank answers.  
  
" Look," Rob said, knowing that they had to reach the tunnels before their escape was blocked off, " I'll just carry him."  
  
" They're coming!," Brit suddenly whispered, though she had been pointing the whole time. Rob wheeled around just as the door handle began to turn. He was rooted to the spot - fear completely striking him motionless.  
  
And he watched in utter horror as a flash light illuminated their faces.  
  
The soldier looked into the room, his eyes crossing from Brit to Rob and finally to Adrian laying unmoving on the ground. Several seconds passed, screaming out their implausible length as the room was still with anticipating quiet. Rob wasn't even breathing.  
  
The soldier turned upon his heel and was in the hallway.  
  
" Room's clear, sir," his voice echoed through the hall as Rob heard him walk down to the next room.  
  
He began breathing once again.  
  
" That was close," he whispered to himself, his voice clearly hinting at the fact that his nerves were completely shaken.  
  
" Huh?," Adrian was stirring. Rob and Brit rushed to his side as quietly as they could.  
  
" Hey, are you okay?," Rob asked, and looked over his shoulder at the door - there had been a noise.  
  
" There's a soldier posted outside," Brit whispered back.  
  
" Well, that's the end of the tunnels," Rob said, his plan ruined.  
  
" Are you okay?," Rob whispered once again to Adrian. For an answer, Adrian, kept his eyes shut tightly and held a hand to his head.  
  
" I've got a headache," he whispered back.  
  
" Look, we've got to escape," Rob whispered back, his urgency overcoming any other concern, " Soldiers already came through here, but I can't just keep convincing them that we're not here. Can you teleport?"  
  
Adrian opened one eye and gave Rob a look that he had to be crazy, but he had never heard such an emotion on his friend's voice before.  
  
" Yeah, just give me a second."  
  
Adrian could hardly even get up to his feet without help from Rob and Brit, let alone 'port them anywhere, but time was not on their hands. They were all convinced that any second another soldier would stroll through the door. Brit had to do everything that she could not to cry out in alarm - no matter how hard she told herself not too, she continued to look through the walls.  
  
" They're getting away," she whispered to Rob, " They reached the tunnels." She looked in another direction, squinting her eyes at the distance.  
  
" And Logan, Bobby, Rogue, and John are in the garage," she reported, " They're getting away, too."  
  
" Then we're the only ones left?," Rob asked.  
  
" Shh!," Adrian hushed them, but he had acted too late.  
  
The door was once again opening - the guard posted on the door outside had clearly heard them talking - but this time the door swung open fiercely. Once again, the three teens were overcast with the light from a flashlight.  
  
" Down on the ground!," the soldier shouted. He didn't know why this room had been cleared as empty - the three students just stood there staring back at him, and he raised his sidearm at them. He remembered his orders, use the tranquilizer gun, they wanted the mutants alive. Any second he was going to shoot. Brit reached down and instinctively grabbed Rob's hand in fright. It was her only comfort at that moment. Yet it was too late for Rob to do anything. The soldier clearly wouldn't be fooled if suddenly they all disappeared under his power.   
  
But disappear they did.  
  
The soldier shot, but it was too late. Adrian had lunged forward, grabbing both Brit and Rob and he would have completely the front flip if he hadn't disappeared at the last moment. The three teens hit the ground outside, the grass was cool and wet under their feet, and they were gone again. Rob kept his eyes closed as they were teleported away - he felt a succession of grass and rock and asphalt under his feet, each followed by a moment of nothing.  
  
Finally, they stopped. Adrian was far too exhausted to go on much further. He was double bent over and panting - he still had not recovered from the terrible headache he was having. If he had recovered, surely he would have been able to hear that they were not alone.  
  
None of the teens said nothing at all. All of them were quiet, panting - Brit had never teleported before, and the experience had made her uncomfortably nauseated. Rob was recovering from that brief pang of panic. He had been certain that they were about to be shot. What would have happened to them if the soldiers had taken them?  
  
Rob refused to think about those horrors now. They were safe, they were away from the school. Listening to the quiet around him, he was sure that they were alone. All fear slowly filtered out of his system as it was replaced by a soothing calm.  
  
They had gotten away.  
  
Brit had succumbed to sobs once again. The terror was almost too much for her. Rob looked around at his surroundings, they were on a lonely road surrounded by trees. It resembled the same road that Logan and the others were racing down at that moment - almost too similar.   
  
Rob turned his attention to Brit, and comforted her with a simple, " Are you okay?"  
  
" I was so sure...," she whispered in between her sobs.  
  
" It's okay, we're away now," Rob said, but he was silenced as he looked down at his chest and saw a tiny dot of green. He looked up with terror into the woods. There was nothing. There was absolutely nothing but darkness.  
  
" Lights," a voice said, and all three teens were suddenly flooded with what seemed to be the brightest light mankind had ever built.  
  
Adrian raised to his feet, his hand shielding his eyes from the light, and he attempted to peer beyond the radiance. He could hardly see anything beyond the light, but dully he could hear the sound of people. His ears were still ringing from the earlier onslaught - but it was clear, there were people there. And he was sure that they had guns.  
  
Rob hadn't moved - he was staring down at the green dot on his chest as if he had hypnotized him. After all the drama during one single night, he finally felt defeated. His nerves had been stretched to their limit - and then, his emotions were tested once more.  
  
" Rob?," the voice came through to him as if torn from memory. He didn't even move in response. He looked up into the light that blinded him, but he saw nothing, nothing that could reassure him. That voice, how could that be? It was painfully recognizable.   
  
" Dad?," Rob asked into the light, but that was all the he had asked.  
  
Adrian once again ran up from behind, his mind completely focused upon his task. He reached out his hand to grab Rob - he was so close! - but his stumbled. His feet no longer were quick enough to obey him. Adrian looked down in horror at his exposed chest - he had been shot with a dart.  
  
He had not been fast enough.  
  
And they all were taken.  
  
*************  
  
So, did ya like how things turned out??? Next chappie should be up in a few days!  
  
Please review ; ) 


	12. I will bring you back to me

Okay, don't laugh - this whole chapter was written to MADNESS! " Our house...la, la, la-la, la!" I'm singing to myself. Let the ska beats beat on!  
  
Chapter 12  
  
************  
  
Todd slowly uncurled himself from the ball that he had slept in - he had no idea that the nights could get so cold. This had been the first night that he had ever slept outside of his house. Just that thought had reaffirmed how real his situation was. He had run away.  
  
Todd stood up, his muscles feeling all cramped from an uneasy rest. His dreams had been plagued by worry and nightmares of what was to come. But the quiet of that morning was reassuring. He stood under the trees for a few minutes - soaking up the butter rays from the rising sun and his ears delighting in the songs of carefree birds.  
  
He had to get going, he knew that. He grabbed his backpack, and wished for a second that he had a mirror to make sure that his hair looked okay. He had bangs that went down to the tops of his ears and the rest of his hair was short and messy. Even if he always styled it to look messy - it had to look the 'right' kind of messy. He was sure that it looked like the 'wrong' messy.  
  
His jeans were dirty from the night of lying on the ground, and no matter how hard he tried to beat the dust out of them, the jeans remained dirty. *great,* he thought, *now I look like some bum.*  
  
Todd left the spot where he had rested during the night and started once again on his journey. He had no idea where this school was - but just like Rob, he felt quite confident that he would somehow stumble upon the clues.  
  
He walked for the better part of the day - stopping at a Taco Bell around lunch to buy some burritos - unlike Rob, he looked quite normal and could easily pass for a non-mutant. He was sitting in the dining area of the Taco Bell and looked up at the monitor that the workers used to read orders. Suddenly, the screen flickered, and an image came on the screen.  
  
He remembered the memory - he was dancing up a storm at the Slackers show. But there was no sound - those monitors didn't have speakers. Bummer.  
  
Todd shook his head, and before any of the workers had noticed, the picture flickered out. Once again, it dished out orders to the workers who stared at it from below. He rolled his eyes to himself, * I have to learn how to control this.*  
  
When he was finished eating, he subversively refilling his glass of (free) water with some Sierra Mist, and left the building. He walked further and further, until he finally felt far too alone and walked to the nearest store. Fortunately for him - he was in a town with a mall, where he KNEW he could find someone who was cool enough to talk to for a while.  
  
He walked in through the doors - and a blast of air conditioning hit him in the face. It made him shiver - it wasn't THAT warm out yet. The first thing that he wanted to do was to find a TV that was relatively secluded from everyone else - he had a burning desire to test out his mutations even further.  
  
Todd walked through the people who were shopping, looking at all of them in turn. How many of these people were mutants? Were there any here, trying to live a life like a normal person? Todd thought about the rumors of the mutant registration act - how much damage that could cause to someone who just wanted to live a normal life. His eyes passed over faces of fathers, mothers, children. He knew that there had to be some that his eyes passed over that hated him, that wanted him dead, that wanted to see him suffer for no other reason than their fear. But he looked at the people around him and only felt compassion - he believed firmly in the beauty of life, the ups and the downs, everything that made the world turn.  
  
Todd stopped dead in his tracks, for there were quite a few people milling around in front of a Radio Shack. There were countless amounts of TVs in the window, all of them turned to the news. Todd rolled his eyes for a moment - like they were really thinking that the news would persuade someone to buy a TV? The news almost made the TV unbearable - but then he realized what the people were watching.  
  
In bright bold letters, the caption on the screen read : ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON PRESIDENT UNDER INVESTIGATION.  
  
" Just wait!," Todd said, pushing his way through the crowd, " What happened?"  
  
The TV didn't provide the answers straight away. A mother who was standing just in front of him turned to look at him, and then added, " It was one of those god damn mutants."  
  
Todd's heart sank.   
  
" Oh, shit," he said to himself, but the mother thought his emotions were different.  
  
" I know," the woman continued, " How could those bastards in Senate think that we could trust them?"  
  
Todd looked at the screen, realizing that the same emotions would be spreading across the nation. Was his brother going to be okay? Where was he at this time? Would he be safe at the school? What was going to happen?  
  
Suddenly, the screen flickered as if the picture was fading out, and a new scene was on the screen. There was a large college-type classroom, filled with students, all sitting in the stadium like seats. No one could see the professor who was teaching the class, but his voice still came over the television speakers.  
  
" You see, when the dinosaurs went extinct, there was a very large gap to be filled. Before, there were bipedal carnivore hunters, smaller, bipedal ovivores - uh, that's the egg hunters. And there were herbivores large and small. There were dinosaurs, the pterosaurs, that dominated the skies, dinosaurs in the sea. In short, dinosaurs ruled every niche of the eco-system. Now, when they went extinct, there were very large shoes for the mammals to fill. (some of the students laughed) They had to become hunters, grazers, flyers, swimmers. And in the course of a few million years, they took over where the dinosaurs had left off.  
  
" Now, what is happening now? In our world today? Because of mankind, animals are going extinct all over the world. We are running out of our hunters, our grazers, our swimmers. Soon, there won't be anymore animals left.  
  
" Which is WHY mutants are rising in our gene pool. It's a natural evolutionary reaction - without all these niches being filled, we have to find ways to CHANGE to fit them. But what is happening is not what had happened in the past. Instead of hunters - we find that we have teleporters. Instead of grazers - we have mind readers. What does this mean? What direction will the mutants take the future of evolution? I for one, would like to find out."  
  
The screen flickered once again, and returned to the normal news. The people surrounding Todd had hardly noticed that he had used his powers at all. Todd was breathing a little hard, a tinge of panic slowly ebbing away. That had been his father on the screen - giving a lecture to his biology class.  
  
But that didn't answer any questions. How did he gain access to his father's memories? Was simple contact all that he needed? What had his dad meant when he said that Todd had no idea what they were planning to do? Who? And how did his dad know about it?  
  
Todd tried to clear his mind and focus. *Okay, why would Dad be involved with something dealing with mutants?* Todd thought. He realized that his mind didn't just project images for no reason - he just saw why. His dad WANTED to know about mutants. What kinds of mutants would rise and dominate the planet. His dad was a biologist with a deep love of evolutionary theory. He WANTED to know what was going to happen.  
  
But what did he mean when he said ' Do you know what they are planning to do?'  
  
Who was his dad working with? What were THEY intending to do?  
  
Todd turned away from the TV and continued walking. Sure, he got away with it that time, but he couldn't risk projecting anything on the television and getting caught. There was far too much anti-mutant sentiment in the air right now. He would have to try later.  
  
*********  
  
Adrian slowly opened his eyes. He never remember such a feeling as this. He couldn't concentrate on anything. It had taken him nearly an hour just to wake up. Every time he tried to string a few thoughts together, they got muddled and confused. Adrian didn't even realize that he was wearing a strange looking helmet that was preventing him from teleporting. He just couldn't concentrate.  
  
Which meant that he couldn't teleport anywhere.  
  
He winced at the pain that he felt - something between a headache and extreme sleep deprivation and a little bit of hunger. He couldn't even begin to wonder where he was. He just had to accept that he was there.  
  
He looked around his surroundings - he was in a cell. He could clearly see through the walls, for they were merely bars. A few cells down, he could see Brit. She was huddled in a corner, crying.  
  
" Brit!," Adrian called, but he felt a pang in his head. It hurt too much to talk, and he simply lay on the ground, holding his head.  
  
" Adrian?," she asked - she had thought that he was still unconscious, " Are you awake?"  
  
" Sort of," Adrian whispered back, once again, pain infiltrating his mind, " Can you see Rob?" After he said that, more pain dulled his concentration, and he vowed never to speak a word again.  
  
" Yeah, he's okay," Brit said, and then pointed vaguely in one direction, " He's over there, he's in a big holding tank of water, but he looks okay." She sobbed for a second, " What are we doing here?"  
  
That answer became clear soon enough. A far door was unlocked, and a whole mob of people came swarming out into the cell block. Some of them were wearing military uniforms, and who had enough medals to inhibit their ability to stand straight. Some of them were most obviously students - desperately scribbling down every word that was being said. One person lead the whole group - who was dressed smartly in a suit that made him appear much younger than he was. That man was Professor Craig Vincennes.  
  
He seemed very much in his element - despite all the things that had happened in his life. He couldn't have been more thrilled. He was finally having an opportunity to do research work on mutants, something that his love of evolutionary theory had been begging for him to do. But there were some who thought that the idea of caging mutants and learning about them would be dangerous. Vincennes had to prove the importance of his work, or else he could say goodbye to his research grant, and also watch as his subjects were shipped off elsewhere - out to where Stryker was, where he had even worse plans for them.  
  
Even if Vincennes had no qualms about keeping his own son here - even if he was so possessed by the desire to understand the mutation that was sweeping mankind - even if he would be emotionless as he did his research on children, he would do anything he could to prevent Stryker from possessing these specimens. In a sentimental way, Vincennes convinced himself that he couldn't be so cruel as to do that to his son.  
  
  
  
" You see," Craig Vincennes began, " I think that Nature had this planned, perhaps, if such things are possible. Well, now take for example something like a trilobite -"  
  
" What's a trilobite?," one of the people who were obviously not a student spoke up.  
  
" An extinct arthropod," a student said over her notebook.  
  
" A what?"  
  
" An extinct type of insect," Professor Vincennes clarified.  
  
" What does that have to do with mutants?," another military-looking guy growled.  
  
" Let me explain. See, the trilobite has a very small brain -," Vincennes got cut off.  
  
" You could have just used a stegosaurus," a student suggested.  
  
" Okay, fine, imagine a stegosaurus. He has a very small brain. But it gave him everything that he needed. He didn't need a large brain - his brain was perfectly sized for his lifestyle. Eating, mating, fending off predators."  
  
" Where is this going?," the growl-voiced military-looking guy said impatiently.  
  
" Now people, we have very large brains, correct? Now, our whole brain gets nutrition, our whole brain receives the same electronic impulses - but we only use a small percentage of our brains. About the same amount as our friend stegosaurus. I mean, look at Adrian Nickels, here -"  
  
Adrian gave them a dirty look as the mob of scientists turned in his direction.  
  
" - What biological importance would teleporting have? Escaping from predators really becomes efficient. But where did this ability come from? Did this mutant have to be born with a different kind of organ in order to have the ability to teleport? Of course not, or else we'd be able to detect mutancy from birth. No, this mutation comes from the brain - and only during puberty does this reveal itself - through the increased rate of hormones that come in contact with the brain."  
  
" So what you are saying is that everyone has the ability to be a mutant?"  
  
" What I'm saying is that mutants are not a new phenomenon. Our brain's have not changed since the dawn of mankind, which means that we've always had these abilities. Perhaps there have been people using these mutant powers all through out our history and we've never even noticed. Every human on this planet right now has the ability to teleport or the ability to read minds. Yet so far, there hasn't been a need for mutants to exist in any ecosystem structures. But now, mutants are rising in records numbers. Why now? Why after all this time?  
  
" Because, animals are going extinct - tigers, elephants, whales, birds, and through out the course of evolutionary history, there has never been one single dominating species on the planet. It just simply cannot happen. Homo sapiens are not meant to be the sole rulers of the world - and now, we could safely presume that each one of these mutants can be considered a NEW species, a cousin of mankind.  
  
" Which is why it is so important to study them. To know where we are going in -"  
  
The growled-voice military-looking guy interrupted, " Does this mean that we're going extinct?"  
  
" Quite possibly," Vincennes started, and then corrected himself, " Well, yes, actually. Most likely, yes. I doubt very much if non-mutant people will be able to compete. Yet we are the coelacanth of the things to come, we have had our place in the shaping of life."  
  
The military guy was quite put off by Vincennes poetic musings, " Are you siding WITH the mutants. I've heard that your son is one of them."  
  
This made Adrian snap is head in attention.  
  
" I'm simply a scientist," Vincennes explained, " I want to know what the future will bring."  
  
The students all nodded and scribbled down in their notebooks, and Professor Vincennes lead them away from Adrian's cell. So is that why he was here? To test out some old man's theory? He rolled his eyes, but couldn't think on the matter much more.  
  
His concentration was slipping.  
  
***********  
  
Professor Craig Vincennes had stayed late that night, even after all the other employees had left. He was alone. Somewhere else in the country at that very moment, the X-Men were listening to Magneto's plan of uniting against Stryker. But Vincennes knew nothing of this, or what their late night discussions would lead to.  
  
At the moment, his eyes and attention were focused upon the motionless form of his son. He remembered the first time he had watched Rob actually staying alive under water. At that time, he was overcome with the fear that Rob would die.   
  
Yet at the same time, he began to think. He had begun constructing a theory on WHY mutants were spreading across the country. He even began writing it that same night. He began teaching it a few days later in class. Craig was completely obsessed with the idea.  
  
And fortunately, for him at least, his work gained much more prominent attention. There were people who became very interested in this theory of his, had offered him a job, had even offered to fetch him a few mutants if they could ever get the President to allow them to. Of course, Vincennes was well aware that his son would be in danger - but the opportunities a job like this could offer?  
  
No longer would his work go by unnoticed. He could finally get his voice heard - his ideas on evolution, on biology, on why mutations were even happening.   
  
And in the end, he cared far more about his work than his family.  
  
His eyes looked over Rob one more time - he was kept constantly unconscious since his powers of convincibility were far too dangerous. Rob would never know what was going on. So in the end, Craig was in the clear, he was safe - when his work was done, Rob would be none the wiser. Rob would never know who had done this to him.  
  
Or at least, that's what Craig was hoping. He had no idea what was in store for him in his future...  
  
*********  
  
Okay -that's the end of this chapter. Yeah, if no one can tell, I am a huge buff on evolution - Okay, the next chapter - Adrian finds a way to get everyone to escape - but someone mysterious has special plans for Rob (hint - check out my summary, right?) So, more action to come!!!!!!!!! Also, Todd will appear much more often in the chapters to come!  
  
Next chappie up in a few days!  
  
please review!  
  
deke 


	13. to see the stars again

Yep, it's chapter 13 time.... Maybe it's bad luck to post the 13th chapter on Friday the 13th, but I thought it would be funny! ; )  
  
okay, well, just to let you know - I've got this story planned up until 25 chapters, and I plan to post a chapter every Friday and Monday, so maybe it'll be all up and posted by mid-July? I know, I plan too much. Well, here's chapter 13 - and this is complete angst-core because this is the Celebro chapter (see! I haven't forgotten the movies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) This chapter, though, is really necessary, especially if you've read the book - I can't exactly overlook this part.   
  
Thanx to all ye reviewers! All your reviews really help inspire me, and believe me - you'll be getting even more cliff hangers with this chapter o.O  
  
And, this chapter was written entirely to Operation Ivy - " All I know is I don't know nothing." (Dances around the room for a bit... " Oh, yeah, I better get writing this chapter!") And I don't really know why I keep letting everyone know what music I'm listening to while I'm writing this, but since music is the voice of the soul, " let the rebel beats beat on!!!!!!!!"  
  
P.S. On a further note, you guys all need to check out " Ain Gwine Miss" on my favorite stories list - I love my little Snitter XD. (and Snitter even promised to write a Rob and Adrian fic when I'm done with this, so you've all got to help me encourage Snit to do it!!!!!!! Oh, how I love that kid!)  
  
Chapter 13   
  
******************  
  
Adrian was having a difficult time. On one hand, he knew he desperately needed to form a plan to escape - but the harder he tried to form a plan, the less fabricated it would become. Adrian didn't even know why he couldn't concentrate on anything - he still had not realized that there was a helmet on his head that was preventing him from concentrating. Adrian, though, had a vague idea that he couldn't concentrate because couldn't teleport, but he even could hardly dwell on that fact for long.  
  
He felt like he was half way between sleeping and waking.  
  
But he knew that he had to form a plan to escape. That was painfully clear, unfortunately, it was also painfully clear that it was just plain painful to try to think. Yet something kept him going - even if it was hard for him even to remember what he was working on.  
  
Adrian cleared his mind to focus, struggling to push his way through the fog that clouded his mind, and hoped that Rob was okay.  
  
***************  
  
Todd kept walking. He had been worrying since he had left the mall - all his thoughts revolved around that memory that he had put onto the television screen. It had been a close call. What would have happened if someone realized that he was a mutant? Todd shivered for a second, and pushed the thought from his head. There was no time to think about that now. He was more worried over his own powers. Did that mean that he had full access to the memories of anyone that he touched?  
  
But the funny thing was that Todd couldn't even think about these memories. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pull up one of his Dad's old memories - it just flashed up on the screen. That was a relief. Todd didn't know if he could remain sane if the memories of everyone he touched were just bouncing around in his mind.  
  
But what was going on with his Dad? Todd desperately wanted to know, but anytime he came across a television, there were far too many people around. Maybe he should just go back home? But then he remembered that threat - " Do you have any idea what they're planning to do?"  
  
What were they planning to do? Todd had to know.  
  
Todd had been walking for quite a while until he finally stopped in front of a Wal-Mart. There were sure to be plenty of TVs in there, and maybe he could just find a way to seclude himself - or perhaps he could just project his Dad's memories into a camcorder and all he would have to do was peer through the lens?  
  
He walked through the front door, and made his way as fast as he could to the electronics department. There were lots of TVs, but there were also lots of people. He looked around - this store was busy as hell. There was no way that he could hope to search through the plethora of memories he got from his Dad without being noticed. Todd felt disappointed, yet he should have known that the store would be too crowded.  
  
He turned to walk away, giving up for the moment, and then he stopped dead in his tracks.  
  
***********  
  
Somewhere, half way across the country, Xavier began searching for all the mutants, unable to realize what devastation that would cause..   
  
*****************  
  
Somewhere not too far from Bayville, New York, Kelly fell to her knees, a look of complete panic in her eyes as she saw the ground littered with tiny versions of herself. She couldn't even control it. Every few seconds, another one would appear - and each time she created one, she lost that part of her personality. Soon, she would have nothing left.  
  
**************  
  
Adrian was struck with the same terror as other mutants were feeling all over the country. Every sound that was usually even beyond his own hearing became painfully audible. It was a rising tide that he couldn't resist, no matter how hard he tried. Soon, he was engulfed in a agony of noise. He held his hands over his ears and screamed out in anguish - helpless not to scream, yet adding to his own torment as well.  
  
******************  
  
Todd would have never been able to imagine that such pain could exist. He was standing - rooted to the spot, a look of complete shock and horror plastered over his face as his arms curled around his stomach in an attempt to comfort himself. For a second, he acted as if he was simply attempting to ignore the pain, but it simply became unbearable.  
  
What was happening? He was suddenly struck down by it, falling to the ground in a terrible spasm fit that was causing other shoppers to rush to his aid in alarm. Todd began screaming out in pain - it felt like every nerve of his body was being severed - it burned his mind, he couldn't even think beyond this world of agony. His whole body was shaking in an attempt to rid himself of the torment.  
  
By that time, quite a crowd had gathered to see what was going on - some were even trying to get away from the scene after witnessing the horror of it. One of the store security guards pushed his way through the crowd - he had been trained how to deal with emergencies like these.  
  
" Son," the man called to Todd, kneeling down on the ground next to the teen. Todd was quite beyond them at the moment. All he could do was scream out in pain, begging for someone to help him.  
  
At that moment - all the TV monitors around Todd began flickering - pieces of memories flashing up on the screen so quickly that people could hardly understand what was happening. The security guard looked down at Todd and then up to the wall of TVs. This couldn't be, could it?  
  
Without warning, every single electric devise with a monitor began to spark. Todd's power was pulsing through each one of those machines at such a furious pace that they could not stand up against it. Todd was breaking them through his own pain.  
  
Todd was writhing on the ground when the first monitor exploded. The crowd of people who had gathered all jumped and screamed a bit at the suddenness of it. The security guard made the quick connection - Todd's own manic torment seemed to fall into perfect synchronization with the rapid flashes of pictures on the TVs. It was quite obvious what Todd was.  
  
" Get out of here!," the security guard yelled at the crowd, " He's a mutant!"  
  
The effect on the crowd was incredible - a panic gripped them so harshly that they fled the scene in a frenzy. Looking at what Todd was doing to the monitors around them was enough to make them fear for their own safety. The security guard looked down at the teen for a moment, and a hatred surged through him - reaffirming his disgust of mutants.  
  
Until he was knocked down by the same intense suffering.  
  
Todd's breathing began to slow, rumors of the pain he had felt subsiding. He sat up in a hurry, and gasped at what he saw. Nearly every customer in the store were stricken down to the ground in an agonizing torture. He was the only person who was free from the pain.  
  
At first, Todd didn't know what to do - he was so overloaded. The fear from the pain that he had endured only a few moments before seemed now to have rebounded upon everyone else. Everywhere he looked, he saw the devastation that he had brought upon monitors of the store - there was smoking rising - yet everywhere he looked, there was also someone screaming, crying, cringing at the pain.   
  
" What IS this?," Todd asked out into the crowd, not like he was even expecting an answer. He scrambled to the closest person to him, the same security guard who had been at his side a few moments earlier.  
  
" What's wrong?," Todd asked him, shaking the man as if hoping he could help him. Todd was very close to a feeling of extreme helplessness.  
  
" Help me!," someone else screamed out in a voice so riddled with unbelievable torment that Todd rushed to their side.   
  
" How can I help you?," Todd asked them desperately, almost close to tears at the lack of a solution, but he got no such answer. Panic began to rise in him. These people were going to die, and he could think of nothing to do that could help them. An even greater fear struck him as he wondered to himself if HE was the cause of their suffering. Could he have such powers that he couldn't control?  
  
But just as it had been with him, the torment was gone as easily as if it had been a light being switched off. The screaming stopped. Todd looked around, an overwhelming feeling of relief gripping his heart. He had been so afraid for these people.  
  
One of the first of the crowd to actually attempt to reach his feet was the security guard. Todd hurried over to his side, to do what he could to help the man get to his feet.  
  
" Are you okay?," Todd asked the man, and then looked around at the smoldering TVs, " Uh, sorry about the mess." Todd smiled encouraging at the security guard, but the man only stared at him with a look somewhere between hatred and pure fear.  
  
" Mutant...," was all that the man could mutter. Todd stared at him in disbelief.  
  
" Mutant!," the security guard screamed at Todd, pointing a finger as if someone may have not known who the man was talking about.  
  
" Just wait," Todd tried to start, but someone else cut him off.  
  
" Is that your idea of a joke?," a woman screamed at him.   
  
"Hey, I didn't do this, I can't," Todd began apologetically, but he was beginning to realize there was probably very little he could do to convince them otherwise.  
  
" Are you kidding?," an older man coughed nearby, " Only a mutant could do something like that."  
  
" I don't have that power," Todd explained, but his voice slowly trailed off.  
  
Todd was the only mutant around. He suddenly felt surrounded, exposed, and unprotected as the hostility rose around him - so thick upon the air that it was suffocating. He had to escape, though he hated having to think like that. Without even thinking twice, Todd broke out in a run before too many more people had the chance to rise to their feet.  
  
He heard shouting, some people trying to stop him, but he was running, running as fast as he could for the exit. Todd was encouraged by the terror that gripped him, not knowing what had just happened, but knowing that it wasn't his fault.  
  
Todd reached the doors faster than he thought. He ran up to them, relying on the fact that they were automatic doors, and he slammed into them as they very slowly opened. With a push, he ran through them, and was out in the open.  
  
He kept running, wondering what had happened that had made him as well as all the other people in the store suddenly become stricken with pain - but more worried that it may happen again. But there was an even more urgent thought on his mind. If every 'normal' person in the store had become stricken with this pain, had it happened to people outside of the store?  
  
All the fear and anger that he had felt during those last moments at home disappeared, a new worry overcame him, and he ran with a frantic helplessness as he made his way back home.  
  
*************  
  
Night had descended - at least 6 hours had passed - and still, Adrian was waiting in anticipation for the next brutal attack. Neither he nor Brit had any idea where that sudden onslaught of torture had come from, and neither of them knew if they should be expecting it again.  
  
" Adrian?," Brit asked. Adrian clearly could hear her, but it took him a while to answer. The helmet he was wearing still made it unbearable to talk.  
  
" huh?," he whispered to her after his long pause.  
  
She said nothing in response - as if she was only seeking comfort by hearing his voice alone. Brit couldn't help but to feel alone and frightened - she had been awake when Professor Vincennes had lead the party of students and grant-givers through their cell block, and she was quaking with fear at what that man was intending to do. Anything he had said about the evolution of mutants went completely over her head, but she could hardly tell herself that it was important enough to cage people over.  
  
Of course, and then, she had been struck with a sudden pang of agony as Celebro was put into power. She had seen through walls, through people, through everything, even through herself - until she was alone. Brit wasn't even anything. There was nothing. And she had been terribly afraid that she wasn't even living anymore.  
  
That was her ability going against her - and even now that things had returned to normal, she hesitated from using her powers, as if afraid that it may induce what had happened once again.  
  
If she had been looking through the walls, she may have seen something very strange going on.  
  
But Adrian heard it first, and he snapped his head in the direction of the door. Brit watched him for a few moments, and seconds dragged on before someone actually opened the door. Both teens weren't exactly surprised to see that it was Craig Vincennes. But then he did something that neither of them would have predicted.  
  
He sifted through a ring of keys and unlocked Adrian's cell. Adrian hardly had time to pull himself off the floor when the professor was nearly on top of him. But Craig wasn't there to harm anyone, though Adrian had come to expect otherwise.  
  
Instead, he took off the helmet that had been dulling Adrian's thoughts.  
  
Craig simply said, " You have to escape."  
  
At once, Adrian was standing - a flood of thoughts and ideas coming back to him. He fought his way through the fog that had once clouded his mind, and he remembered everything - Craig's speech to the students and military and the man's pursuit of mutant research, Adrian's own desire to escape, his worry over Rob.  
  
" Huh?," Adrian asked, " What? You want us to escape? I thought you wanted to experiment on us."  
  
" That's changed now," Craig simply said again, " You must escape. There is a Jeep outside for you."  
  
" What's happening?," Brit asked timidly from a few cell blocks down.  
  
" A man more terrible than me has come," Craig said, though he uncharacteristically stumbled through his own words, " with far worse plans for you."  
  
" What about Rob?," Adrian asked.  
  
Craig said nothing.  
  
" What about Rob?!," Adrian shouted, his nerve rising now that he could tell that Craig was desperate for them to leave.   
  
" Rob is coming with me," Craig started, " Look, you must understand, I don't want them to get to him. You have to trust me."  
  
" But I don't trust you," Adrian said, clearly not convinced with Craig's good nature.  
  
" Adrian, please!," Brit shouted from down the hall, not wanting him to get Craig angry enough to keep them locked up, " Just listen to him! He's letting us go!"  
  
" I'm not going anywhere without Rob," Adrian said defiantly.  
  
Yet Craig seemed absolute in his resolve.  
  
" Fine, then stay here," Craig said, turning away from him, " Stay here and they will catch you. Trust me, they have far worse plans for you."  
  
And Craig slipped through the door that he had come in from. Adrian simply rolled his eyes - as if the man could have hoped to evaded him. But Adrian couldn't simply abandon Brit, so he teleported first to her cell.  
  
" Come on," was all that he said as he took her hand, and in a flash, they were gone. Adrian, of course, had not forgotten about Rob. He teleported through the door and reappeared with Brit right by Craig's side.  
  
" Where are you going with him, you know, just in case I need to track you down to do some catching up on this 'which mutants are taking over the world' theory stuff?," Adrian asked. Craig seemed highly annoyed that he was being followed - his plan obviously wasn't working. He had put far less faith upon Adrian's loyalty to his friends.   
  
Brit was far more curious with her surrounding, and she looked around herself, though still afraid to use her powers. If she had, she would have seen the trouble that was coming for them. Instead, she noticed something that made her shout out with surprise.  
  
" Hey!," she cried out, pointing to a far corner of the room. Adrian looked in the direction that she had pointed, and did a double take. In the corner, they could clearly see the body of Craig Vincennes.  
  
" Just wait-," Adrian said, wheeling around to face the Craig Vincennes that had been helping them escape. But what Adrian saw made him even more startled. As if a series of card were being overturned over his body, Craig Vincennes shifted into a different form - that of a woman who was draped in nothing but her own vibrant blue skin. Adrian took a step back.  
  
" Uh, yeah, okay," he said aloud in the same voice a crazy person would have used to reassure himself, and then wheeled about again - for he heard someone approaching him. He turned to see an older man walking towards him.  
  
" Pity it comes to this," the man said in a distinctively proper voice, and Adrian stared in disbelief as a large metal block picked itself up off the floor and began to fly through the air towards him. Adrian didn't even have time to react, or even to wonder why this block was flying at him. It smacked him right in the side of the face and knocked him out cold.  
  
**************  
  
Okay - I know a lot happened here! The suspense rises!  
  
Next chapter up in a few days - please review while ya wait!  
  
hugs, deke 


	14. or if pitiless fate

Okay, here we go with chapter 14, thanx once again to everyone who had been reviewing this. Cheers!  
  
Chapter 14!  
  
****************  
  
Todd was walking once more, feeling tired and worn out. He had been on his feet for hours and hours, not even bothering to pause for rest. He stayed awake for he felt that he had to keep moving, as he if feared that he was being pursued by someone unseen.  
  
He had been worried that the brutal attack that he had suffered would return - but after a long day and night, he could say with certainty that he wouldn't have to deal with that again. But who had done it? And why? Was it perhaps a mutant like the one who had tried to assassinate the president? A mutant who had the power to kill anyone? Who wanted to see every one who wasn't a mutant dead? Todd wished that he knew the answers, but he simply did not have the means in which to find them.   
  
He had been running as long as he could, until finally the endurance left him and he was succumbed to a walk. Todd was making his way back home, regardless of whatever it was that would be waiting for him there. He mentally kicked himself for leaving without even so much as a word to his Mom.  
  
Todd reached the house much faster than he thought that he would, sometime in the early afternoon, but now that he had reached the two story house, he stood out in the yard as if deciding whether or not he really wanted to go through with it. He didn't have to decide.  
  
" Todd?," a voice called out from inside the house, " Todd!"  
  
Todd smiled, it was the voice of his mom. The front door flung open, and his mom came running up to hug him.  
  
" Hi, mom," he said as if he just came home from the mall, which completely contrasted with his mom's frantic emotion.  
  
" Where have you been?," she started, " I've been so worried."  
  
" Look," Todd said, and then bite his lip. Did he REALLY want to go through with this?  
  
" Mom, I have to tell you something. I'm a mutant too."  
  
*************  
  
Todd had been right. Rob should have told his parents.   
  
" See, you've got to check out what I can do," Todd said excitedly.  
  
" It doesn't involve burning the house down," Todd's mom joked, but her voice seemed far too tired for it.  
  
" No, this is SO much better," Todd turned on the T.V., " I don't really know yet if an electronic device HAS to be on for this..." He had forgotten about the first time he ever used his powers - when he had been asleep in his bedroom.  
  
He trailed off as he concentrated on displaying some sort of memory up on the TV. Todd could hear his mother gasp as the scene flickered for a moment and then settled on a memory of when the whole family had taken a weekend vacation to the ocean. Todd smiled, at least he could pick out a good memory, mom's loved things like this.  
  
" This is what you can do?," Todd's mom asked, " I just thought....you know, mutants," she said that word as if she thought it was too harsh of a word, " I just thought that their powers were more....obvious."  
  
" Well, some of them, sure," Todd replied, " But..."  
  
" You don't want to hide it?," she asked. Todd didn't even have to think about it.  
  
" No," Todd said, " There's too much going on right now. I can't hide what I am."  
  
" Okay," his mom said, taking a breath, " If that's what you want to do, I'm behind you, just... you should have told me about it. You shouldn't have tried running away."  
  
" I'm sorry, but I tried to tell Dad and he went crazy," Todd said - he could have shown her his memory of it, but he didn't know if something like that would be appropriate - so he changed the subject, " It's just hard, you know.... I mean, being a mutant. People find out and they get so mad."  
  
Todd did not have a whole lot of control over his powers at the moment, and the scene flickered to the memory of what had happened in the Wal-Mart - after the Cerebro attack when the security guard began screaming at him, calling him a mutant. On the screen, Todd began to run away from the crowd, their hostility so strong that he could feel it even by watching it on TV. Todd almost ended the memory - knowing that such a thing would really get his mom upset - but she was looking at the screen with such emotion that Todd held it there.  
  
" I never knew that is what you would have to face," she said finally, her voice choked with worry.   
  
" I just made a mistake," Todd said, not knowing that his mother had also suffered from the Cerebro attack and not wanting to get her even more worried by telling her about it, " I tried to use my powers to find out where this school was...the store was just too crowded. They noticed."  
  
" Here, I have something for you, then," his mom said as she walked into the kitchen. She came back out, holding one of those new camera phones.   
  
" Whoa!," Todd said when his mom gave it to him, " You mean it? Hey, I wonder if I could send you a memory."  
  
" I was going to wait until your birthday," his mom said - Todd's birthday was in another month, " But I think this could help you out now."  
  
" Hell yeah it can!," Todd celebrated, " Mom, you totally rock!"  
  
He opened the cell phone, and concentrated on displaying a memory. It worked! He could distinctly see a memory of sitting in class in high school, and he didn't even have to charge up the batteries. Could his powers also manipulate an electronic devise? Such as giving power to it?  
  
" This is the coolest present ever," Todd said, overwhelmed that he could now use his powers whenever he needed to, without worrying that some hostile person would notice he's a mutant.  
  
" I'm glad you like it," his mom said, smiling.  
  
" Thanks," Todd said, and he hugged his mom.  
  
" I just wish you would have told me sooner."  
  
" I'm sorry, it's just really confusing, you know? But I'm glad that I did, too. And not just for the presents."  
  
**************  
  
Todd told himself that he had the absolutely coolest mom in the world - she decided that she would drive her son out to Bayville. Using his new phone, Todd tried to see if maybe his dad knew where the school was - and frighteningly enough, he found that he did. On the phone, he pulled through different driving images until they ultimately lead up to the school.   
  
He didn't want to lie to his mother, but he didn't know if she would be ready to handle the information - that Craig had something to do with mutants and the school. Instead, Todd told her that Rob had told him how to get to it.  
  
But what was he supposed to do when he got to the school? Just stand by the front gaits and knock? Did he have get some sort of proof that he was a mutant to go to the school? Maybe it would be better if he saw a mutant on the way to the school, but Todd would just have to rely on his instincts.  
  
Todd must have had either incredible instincts or really great luck. When they finally reached Bayville, Todd's mom decided to stop and get some gas, and while Todd was sitting in the car waiting, he saw someone that he didn't expect. He opened the door, stepped out into the sun, and called out her name, " Hey, Kelly!"  
  
" Todd?!," came a very familiar voice - the emotion on it saturated with a mix between worry and relief.  
  
He ran over to where she was standing, but he didn't have to go very far. She ran up to him as if the whole world was falling apart, " Oh my god, Todd, I'm so happy I found someone!!!!!!!!!" Kelly reached him and gave him a huge hug.  
  
" What?," Todd asked, not knowing what had happened to the school, " What do you mean?"  
  
" You didn't hear?," she asked, lowering her voice when she saw Todd's mom, even though they were standing pretty far away " The whole school got invaded by soldiers. They had guns, they just started shooting everywhere."  
  
" Just wait," Todd interrupted her in a whisper, " The school got invaded? Have you seen Rob, is he okay?"  
  
" I haven't seen anyone," Kelly explained, " I don't even know what happened to everyone else. I escaped with a big group through these tunnels, but I ended up getting lost in the woods," she paused for a second, realizing for the first time that Todd had no good reason to be in Bayville, " What are you doing here?"  
  
Todd was still extremely worried about the news that he just heard - is that why all those people earlier were struck down in pain? to retaliate because the school had been invaded? Yet the question that Kelly asked brought a pride over him when he explained, " I just found out two days ago - I'm a mutant."  
  
Kelly's jaw dropped in a happy shock, " You are?!"  
  
" Yeah, cool, huh?"  
  
" What can you do?"  
  
Todd took the cell phone out of his pocket, and then reached over and touched Kelly's arm. He looked down at the screen, and suddenly he wished he could have picked a better memory. There were children running, Kelly's view turned on the screen to see soldiers, pointing guns. Screams. Todd quickly stopped the memory and closed the phone. Kelly looked at him for a moment, so he simply explained, " I can put someone's memory up on anything that's electronic with a monitor."  
  
Kelly just nodded. Despite all the terror and confusion that she had faced over the past few days, at least this was a drop of really good news. She had to hide a shy smile of celebration - Todd was a mutant! Yeah!  
  
" You haven't seen anyone else?," Todd returned to their previous subject, " Why did the school get invaded?"  
  
" I don't know," Kelly said, " Probably because that one guy tried to kill the president."  
  
" Well, I guess that makes sense," Todd said, " Why would a mutant do something like that? I mean, didn't he know it was just going to make things worse?"  
  
" Maybe he just didn't care," Kelly said.  
  
She paused for a moment, for a sudden thought came into her head. She closed her eyes as if in deep concentration. Todd looked at her, a little confusion.  
  
" Uh, Kelly?," Todd asked her, and her eye lids fluttered open.  
  
" Okay - that was weird," Kelly began to explain, " I just heard Professor Xavier's voice in my head. He wants all us students to return to the school."  
  
******************  
  
" Hey! Wake up! Adrian? Can you hear me? Wake up!"  
  
Adrian slowly opened his eyes as someone shook his arm.   
  
" Huh?," he asked out to whoever it was who had been talking to him, " What?"  
  
He turned his head and saw that he was sitting in a Jeep, Brit sitting in the passenger seat and Adrian in the driver seat. He had only been sitting up because he was strapped in with a seat beat. But he couldn't even remember getting into a Jeep. He didn't even remember anyone he had ever known who HAD a Jeep.  
  
" Brit?," Adrian asked, " Where are we? What are we doing in a car?"  
  
" You don't remember?," Brit asked as if he was crazy, " Those people - they kidnapped Rob!"  
  
Suddenly, Adrian shook his head, and he remembered everything that had happened the night before - Craig Vincennes freeing them from their cells, him morphing into the blue-skinned woman, getting clobbered by a flying block of metal.  
  
Adrian put a weary hand up to his brow - there was a cut that was scabbed over where the massive block had struck him.   
  
" Who were they?," Adrian asked, though it was quite doubtful that Brit would have known.  
  
" They were mutants, I know that," Brit answered.  
  
" And let's see why that's obvious," Adrian explained sarcastically, " I bet the flying gobs of metal didn't give you any clues. Oh, I know, maybe watching some old man shift into a naked blue lady didn't give it away, either."  
  
" Grow up," Brit shot back.  
  
Adrian just shrugged his shoulders, " What did you say? They kidnapped Rob?" He was having a hard time remembering much, yet even a harder time believing that anyone would want to kidnap Rob.  
  
" Just before I got knocked out," Brit said, " I looked through the walls, someone was taking him away."  
  
" Are you sure? Who?," Adrian asked, and then changed his question, " Why? God, why is everyone after Rob lately? It's making me feel left out."  
  
" Duh, isn't it obvious? Rob can convince anyone of anything, they could just - "  
  
" Brit, okay, even if that WAS why they took him, how are they going to convince Rob to do anything for them? Shit, I mean, come on, Rob doesn't fall for all that 'mutants are better than everyone else' shit," Adrian said, still finding it hard that anyone would be after Rob.  
  
" Aren't you at all worried about what's happened to him?," Brit asked. Adrian seemed hurt that she even had to ask that question.  
  
" Look, of course I'm worried, Rob's my best friend -," Adrian said, but he got cut off. At that moment, both him and Brit heard the same voice in their head. It was Professor Xavier - sending all the students a mental message to return to the school.  
  
" Okay, did you hear what I just heard?," Adrian asked when it was over.  
  
" Uh, a 'return to the school' speech?," Brit asked.  
  
" Yep," Adrian said, as he rose his hand to gingerly feel the gash on his forehead, " Yeah, okay, reality check - we're in a Jeep," Adrian started as he looked around - the keys to the Jeep were already in the ignition  
  
" You just figured that out now?," Brit asked sarcastically, " You better let me drive."  
  
" Eh, these guys can't be THAT bad," he said nonchalantly as the engine rose to life, " They did leave me with a free car."  
  
***************************  
  
Okay, that's the end of this chapter. Next chapter will be dealing with Todd going to the Institute and meeting all the X-Men and whatnot, and we'll also find out what has happened to Rob, so, next chapter up on Friday...  
  
please review!  
  
deke 


	15. denies me this

Okay, here we go with Chapter 15. Don't worry, we'll find out what happens with Rob in this chapter. Yeah, and I'm also starting to work on a comic (which includes Rob and Adrian, though they aren't mutants in this, they're just straight edge super heroes....), so I might start posting a lot of these chapters much more often than Monday/Friday - there's just too much story planning going on in my head, and the quicker I can get this fanfic up, the more I can do with my comic....not to mention school....ect.ect.ect.  
  
Thanx to the reviewers!  
  
To Snitter - I'm glad that you liked the way that Todd and Kelly are getting along. Yeah, they are happy to see each other ; ). And it's nice that you liked the Adrian/Brit moments. And like I promised, more of the X-Men in the chapters to come.  
  
To brittany (hee, hee) - You read all my story in one sitting? Gasp!  
  
Alison - Hey! Someone noticed the hard work it took to incorporate the book into this fic! Just wait, did I say hard work? I mean... Yeah, I was disappointed in the movie as well, I was SSSOOOO looking forward to crazy angst - perhaps the only really angsty moment was poor, poor Pyro lying in the snow - but no one was going berserk under Cerebro! I was really looking forward to Nightcrawler....Argh! Disappointment!  
  
Guin - This chapter will be a big Gasp! I swear.  
  
nemesis x - Yeah, quick updates rock! I'm glad that I actually wrote something that kept yer interest! You know, I usually only read humor fics as well. And I used to only write humor fics (come on, 'the sandwich of power?' What the hell is that?) But don't worry, I tried to make the chapters to come funny as well as mindblowingly dramatic... Just wait... I'm not giving anything away ; )  
  
To everyone else - Rock!  
  
And on a sadder note, I won't be able to update on Monday because my twin (Snitter in Rivendell on Fanfiction) is coming to visit me up here in chi-town, but maybe I'll get some free time? And this chapter was written to Le Tigre - agh! Dancing! Dancing! Instead of writing, writing!  
  
Chapter 15   
  
**************  
  
Todd's mom drove them the rest of the way, but she dropped them off before they reached sight of the Institute as if she didn't know whether she should approach it. She bid Todd goodbye, reminded him to call, and with that she was gone.  
  
If Todd's mom felt a little awkward about approaching the school, Todd felt even worse. He had never felt more nervous in all of his life - this was ten times more nerve-racking than anything he could remember, though he approached the school with a rise of hopeful anticipation. He would finally meet other mutants - and what would they be like?  
  
Kelly approached the front gate, which had been pretty useless when the soldiers had invaded, but were still barring their way to the Institute nonetheless. She walked up to the gate - there was a small intercom system set up - and she pushed in the button.  
  
" Uh, hello?," she asked into the faceless microphone, " Umm...hi, it's Kelly." She had no idea what to say.  
  
Todd looked at the school through the gate. It seemed so painfully out of reach, yet it also looked as if there was no one there are at.  
  
" Are you sure that someone is there?," Todd asked, peering through the gate at the blank windows.  
  
" There are fifteen people there now, but more are coming soon," that was Scoot, slowly drawing herself out of Kelly's coat pocket. She had to stay hidden while Kelly was out in the open, but there was nothing to hide from now.  
  
" Hi, Scoot," Todd said, " Are they mutants?"  
  
" Yes, of course," Scoot said.  
  
" Are any of them Rob?," Todd asked.  
  
" No," Scoot simply stated.  
  
" Come on," Kelly said, who had been waiting at the speaker, " Why doesn't someone answer me?"  
  
" The intercom is broken," Scoot replied.  
  
" That would have been useful to know BEFORE I tried it," Kelly shot back at the little version of herself.  
  
" Isn't there like a back door or something?," Todd asked, with a joking thought that this was as close to the school as he was going to get.  
  
" Someone is coming," Scoot said, but since she did not hide, both Kelly and Todd knew that it had to be a mutant.  
  
Or a couple of mutants.  
  
The Jeep came roaring up the hill as if Adrian had been competing in a race. Just before the Jeep reached the gates, he slammed on the parking brakes and skidded to a halt. Adrian ripped off his seat beat and kicked open the door as if in victory.  
  
" Yes!!!!!!," he celebrated, " I love driving!!!!!!! Whoo-hoo!" Then he winced for the sound of his own yelling had been too much, and he answered his own torment with a simple, " Ow."  
  
Kelly and Todd exchanged glances. Perhaps Adrian wasn't acting like someone who had just learned that his best friend had been kidnapped by a couple of radical mutants, but that was his way. From inside the car, it was obvious that Brit was probably never going to feel the same about driving again.  
  
" You are a maniac!," Brit shouted as she stumbled out of the car.  
  
" Hi Kelly! How have you been?," Adrian said, ignoring Brit, and running over to Kelly's side as if he was still revved up from driving, " Who's the stranger?" He was of course referring to Todd.  
  
" Uh, this is Todd," Kelly introduced Todd for him, " He's Rob's little brother."  
  
" Oh," Adrian replied, his voice obviously hinting that he knew something bad had happened. Todd, having suddenly been thrown in the spotlight, found himself blushing.  
  
" Hey, I can see a resemblance," Adrian replied as Todd's face turned red.  
  
Brit had slowly made her way from the car to the gate by that time, and addressed Todd with a completely different emotion on her voice, " You're Rob's brother?"   
  
" He's a mutant, don't worry," Kelly said, misinterpreting Brit's anxious voice.  
  
" What can you do?," Adrian cut in before Brit could continue. Todd didn't want to explain, he just pulled out his cell phone while at the same time he reached out and grabbed Adrian's wrist. Both of the boys looked at the cell phone monitor - there was Magneto, and a split second later, a huge piece of metal flew towards the view. Then the memory cut out.  
  
" Oh, thanks for reminding me," Adrian mumbled as he put a hand up to the cut on his forehead.  
  
"Cool, huh?," Kelly asked in anticipation for a compliment as if she had done something to be praised for.  
  
" So what is that? You can show other people's memories?," Adrian asked.  
  
" Who's memories?," Brit cut in.  
  
" Anyone I touch, I suppose," Todd explained, " I don't know, I've only had this for a few days."  
  
" The mutation or the phone?," Adrian asked.  
  
" Uh, both actually," Todd answered.  
  
Brit cast a nervous look at Adrian. He seemed to have completely overlooked the fact that Rob had been kidnapped and they would have to tell Todd, but at the moment Adrian's attention was on the school.  
  
" You know, you didn't have to stay out here and wait for us," Adrian said as he walked up to the gates.  
  
" The intercom is broken," Kelly explained. Adrian scoffed at the idea.  
  
" No problem," he said, grabbing Brit's hand, and in a flash, they was gone. Todd started at this - he had never seen anyone just vanish into thin air, but of course, where would he have?   
  
" It's okay, that's what he does, he is a teleporter," Kelly explained as Adrian and Brit reappeared on the other side of the gate.  
  
" And a pain in the ass," Brit shouted as she sat down on the pavement, raising her voice just to annoy him.  
  
Adrian rolled his eyes when she yelled, "And after all I do for you," he mumbled, and teleported to Kelly's side.  
  
" Where did you get a car from?," Kelly asked, for she knew well enough that Adrian didn't have a car.  
  
" I don't know, we just woke up in one," Adrian explained, and they both teleported. They reappeared a moment later on the other side of the gate. Adrian was hardly visible for a second when he reappeared standing next to Todd.  
  
" You woke up in one?," Kelly asked in disbelief, but Adrian ignored her.  
  
" Ready to go?," Adrian asked Todd, for Todd seemed completely unsure about whether or not he wanted to teleport.  
  
" Uh, I guess," Todd said, but before he could say anything else, Adrian grabbed his wrist and they teleported. Todd was momentarily afraid, but they reappeared on the other side of the gate before any other emotions could swell.  
  
" How was that?," Adrian asked.  
  
" I'm dizzy," Todd mumbled.  
  
" First time for everything," Adrian simply said as if teleporting was something that everyone would have to do someday.  
  
" So I'm guessing that you were one of us that DIDN'T get captured, huh," Adrian said to Kelly as he walked past both Brit and Todd.  
  
" Isn't that obvious?," Kelly said - she didn't know that there were other students that had been captured - but she didn't read into what Adrian had tried to say, that they HAD been captured.   
  
" Lucky you," Adrian replied, agitated that Kelly had missed his point, while building himself up to what he would have to tell Todd.  
  
" Just wait, you got captured?," Todd asked, catching up to the two as Brit followed behind all three, " How did you escape?"  
  
" Hey Brit, how DID we escape?," Adrian asked, " Was it the crazy professor guy or the blue lady? I keep forgetting."  
  
Kelly thought that he was being sarcastic once again, " Can't you ever grow up?"  
  
" That's what happened though," Brit said, finally catching up to the group and grabbing onto Todd's arm as an act of support, " Oh, god, I'm sorry. It's just been a long couple of days. We got captured by some of those soldiers, and we were taken to this really creepy lab place. I don't know what they were going to do to us, because this, like, professor let us escape, but then he changed into this blue woman and then Adrian got knocked out by this huge piece of metal, and then I did, but before I got knocked out I looked through the walls and I saw them, and they were KIDNAPPING Rob!"  
  
She said all of this incredibly fast.  
  
" Bravo," Adrian said in his most sarcastic tone, for that was definitely not the way to tell someone something like that.  
  
" Huh?," Todd said, because he only grasped a few points of the whole thing, " Just wait - did you say someone kidnapped Rob?"  
  
By that time, they had reached the front doors of the mansion - and before anyone could say anything else about the kidnapping incident, the door flung open.  
  
" Hey, you guys remembered where this school was, huh?," it was Bobby. He looked up and noticed the Jeep sitting down by the front gates, " Cool Jeep."  
  
" My brother got kidnapped and all you care about is a stupid car?!," Todd nearly shouted.   
  
Adrian winced in an annoyed way and whispered back, " Can you try not to shout next time."  
  
" Huh?," Bobby asked, having been caught in the middle of a conversation.  
  
Adrian looked at Bobby and shrugged, " Yep, Rob got kidnapped."  
  
" Who got kidnapped?," that was Scott Summers, but he had an air of disbelief on his voice as he made his way to the door. Todd didn't even both to say anything, he just handed the cell phone over to Scott (wondering if he could even SEE through those glasses) and he used his powers to replay the memory that Brit had unknowingly given him when they touched.  
  
Scott looked at the screen, and immediately he knew something was terribly wrong. Through Brit's memories, Scott could see that Rob had been kidnapped. Of course, it was obvious from looking on the screen that Magneto was involved with it, and that could have terrible consequences. All the teachers at Xavier's institute had been told what Rob's true power was - that he had the ability to alter another mutants mutation - and if Magneto knew as well...  
  
" Who are you?," Scott asked Todd.  
  
" Todd Vincennes," Todd answered meekly, quailing under the presence of a much older mutant. That immediately told Scott that Todd was Rob's brother.  
  
" Todd, come with me," Scott said, knowing that he had to see Xavier immediately, " The rest of you just..." But he trailed off, and after arriving at no conclusions on what they should be doing, he turned away and left. Todd held back for a second.  
  
" How can he afford glasses like that?," Todd whispered, wondering for a second how much glasses like that would have to cost and where a mutant could even get a job to pay for them.  
  
" How can he afford not to?," Brit returned, but Todd had no idea what she meant by that. He merely left the group and followed this complete stranger.  
  
When he was gone, Bobby replied, "Rob got kidnapped?"  
  
" Yep. It's a wonderful story, but there's no way I'm telling you without that phone," Adrian replied, " Anyway, how have you been." Adrian was using a voice that was mockingly casual.  
  
" I was in the Oval Office," Bobby beamed.  
  
" Cool," Adrian replied, " What were you there for? A recreation of the mutant assassin attack?"  
  
" Hey, you know, that mutant's here," Bobby realized, then added quietly " And don't freak out, he didn't try to kill the president, I guess it was just mind control or something like that."  
  
" The mutant assassin attacker? The mutant assassin attacker is here?," Adrian said in a voice of tremendously fake disbelief. He had thought that Bobby was joking with him, but without warning, Nightcrawler teleported into the room with a characteristic BAMF!, yet shyly kept his distance from these teens that he had never met before.  
  
***********  
  
Rob slowly opened his eyes, but everything he saw was completely fuzzy and unclear so he closed his eyes again. He felt terrible - his head was pounding as he tried to wake up. It felt like it would be impossible, so he ended up simply trying to recall where he was and how he got there.  
  
The last thing that he remembered was the attack on the school - getting away from the danger with Adrian and Brit, and then the light. The voice that came out from behind it. It was his father.  
  
Rob groaned. What had happened?  
  
But more of his memories were coming back to him as he slowly slipped away from sleepiness - he remembered waking up underwater (which was nice), but realizing where he was. He remembered opening his eyes and seeing his dad - and being terribly confused. Now Rob understood. His father had a deep love for evolutionary theory, and it was obvious enough to Rob now that he was just an experiment in his father's eyes. He didn't know HOW he knew that this is what his father had been doing with him - he just had a suspicion that his dad would do something like that if he had the opportunity.  
  
Rob groaned again as he became more awake. His head was killing him.  
  
" Hey, are you waking up or what?," that voice was so familiar.  
  
" I guess," Rob replied softly, " Where am I?"  
  
The voice did not answer him, but Rob hardly seemed to care. He KNEW that voice, but at the moment, he simply could not place it, until....  
  
" Pyro!," Rob suddenly declared, becoming wide awake and turning to see John standing over him, " What the hell?" Rob seemed more confused than anything else. The last thing he remembered was being underwater and in a lab. This didn't make sense.  
  
" What do you want?," Rob asked, slowly bringing himself to a sitting position.  
  
" I don't want anything," Pyro replied as if he was being blamed for something, " It's Magneto that wants something."  
  
" Huh? Who? Magneto?," Rob said. He had heard Magneto's name before, but he didn't understand what was going on.  
  
Before Pyro could say anything else, a pen on the desk levitated itself a few inches off the surface. It was as if Magneto was announcing his presence, but Rob had not even seen it.  
  
" Yeah," Pyro said, donning a more aloof attitude towards Rob that made him appear much more tough, " He's awake."  
  
And with that, Magneto walked in through the door - and just as suddenly, Rob made the connection. He remembered who Magneto was. He remembered hearing Rogue talk about him - he had tried to kill her in order to force all the world leaders to become mutants. She had only been saved because of the X-Men - and now Rob was here!  
  
" Hey, just wait!," Rob said, startled beyond belief, and then looked angrily at Pyro, " What's going on?"  
  
" Hey, man, nobody messes with Pyro," Pyro said with a smile, referring to when Rob had used his powers against him at the Institute.  
  
" You set me up!," Rob shouted in disbelief - mostly because Pyro had joined up with Magneto.  
  
Before Pyro could say anything - Rob suddenly disappeared. He knew that Rob was only using his powers, but still, it took him by surprise. It didn't matter. It's not like he could have gotten far even if he were to escape.  
  
" Rob, don't get upset. We want you to help us," Magneto spoke for the first time, in a reassuring voice, for Rob's power had no effect upon him while he was wearing his helmet - but Rob would have none of that.  
  
" No! You're crazy! No way," Rob felt extremely cornered, and even more desperate that he could not use his powers to free himself, " There's no way I'm helping you."  
  
" Oh, but you will," Magneto said with a smile. In his hand, there was a syringe filled with a yellow liquid. Rob looked at it for a moment, having no way to know what it was.  
  
" You will."  
  
**********  
  
Next chapter up soon!  
  
Please review! 


	16. I will remain with you

Yes! I found some time to write this weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! (Takes a breath) Yeah! Well, this chapter is Rob going on a rampage.... poor, poor Rob. This chapter is going to have to run a little short because I did not have a lot of time to write, but ya know, you still get all the good stuff! Have fun reading!  
  
Thanx to everyone reviewing this!  
  
To Nemesis X - yeah! camera phones rock! though I don't have one, I just thought that it would be funny to have one - even if it never worked! They just look so cool! Pictures! Pictures for all! well... not exactly, but.....  
  
Chapter 16  
  
**********  
  
Professor Xavier immediately understood the terrible possibility of the problem as soon as he looked at the phone that Todd had given him.   
  
" Who IS that guy?," Todd asked meekly, though he felt much more comfortable with Xavier than he had felt while with Scott. Though Todd did not know why, Scott was dealing with emotions that had made him far more distant than he intended.  
  
" It is Magneto," Xavier said at last and handed Todd back his phone, " Perhaps the most dangerous mutant on the planet," though Xavier did not thinking about his old friend like that.  
  
" What does he want with Rob?," Todd asked, still confused about why someone would be after his brother.  
  
" His power," Scott said, speaking after his long silent brooding.  
  
" I thought all he could do was, you know, convince people of things," Todd injected.  
  
" Though that is not the fullest extent of his true powers," Xavier said, " I doubt even Rob was aware of how far his abilities stretched. He can convince people of just about anything, but he also has the power to alter another mutant's mutations - even permanently suppress another mutants powers. Rob has already accidentally used this power against one of our students here."  
  
" But why would Magneto want Rob to destroy mutants powers?," Scott asked, " if what he wants is mutant dominance?"  
  
" I don't know," Xavier answered, being unable to find an answer, " though we are probably going to find out very soon."  
  
" Just wait," Todd interrupted, " Rob won't help someone like that."  
  
" Rob may not realize what he is doing," Xavier said, hints of his own imprisonment under the mind control floating on his voice.  
  
" Can't you find him with Cerebro?," Scott offered as a solution. Though is was near impossible to track Magneto with the machine, it was probably safe to assume that Rob would be found relatively easily.  
  
Xavier made as if to leave, but paused. He closed his eyes for a moment in deep concentration, and then blankly said, " Rob is here."  
  
" That's great!," Todd exclaimed.  
  
Xavier was silent for another moment before he concluded, " He's under mind control, he has no power over his choices."   
  
Xavier looked at Scott urgently, " I don't know why he is here, but you cannot let him touch you. That's the only way that he can take away your power. You must stop him before he has a chance to hurt any of the other students. I'll think of a place where we can keep him until he recovers."  
  
Scott groaned as he quickly ran out of the Professor's office, " Great. How can I fight someone without touching them?"  
  
****************  
  
Rob stopped where he was. He had to let go of his powers. He had been convincing every mutant that he had approached in the school that he wasn't there, but there were far too many people around to carry on much longer. The strain was starting to wear him out, and he had so much to do.  
  
Just as sudden as possible, Rob appeared in the middle of the hallway of the school, which made Nightcrawler, Adrian, Bobby, Brit, and Kelly jump in surprise.   
  
" Hey," Adrian said, being far too accustomed to being the only mutant that would pop up out of no where to scare them, " Hey, where have you been? Just wait, how did you escape? Are you okay?"   
  
Rob only stared, being unable to even realize that he was looking at his best friend.  
  
" Ummm," Brit bit her lips, " Are you okay? You look really, really sick."  
  
Rob only stared out from eyes that were deathly milky white. Rob began to walk up to the group in a frightening mechanical way, almost as if he were resisting the very movements that he was making. Adrian had no idea what he should do - he was overwhelmed that his friend was okay...well...sort of, but he didn't even know if he should approach Rob. Unless this was Rob's idea of saying 'hi' after being kidnapped for a few days - by pulling a prank.  
  
Before Adrian could do anything else, or any of the other mutants in the school at the moment, he heard Xavier's voice in his head. The message made him groan - Rob was under mind control and he could not be trusted because he had the power to take away a mutant's powers. Almost immediately, Nightcrawler teleported away.  
  
" Did you hear that?," Kelly asked the teens.  
  
" Great," Adrian thought aloud and immediately, he also tried to teleport away. Tried. He attempted to do it, but he could not - Rob was preventing him from using his powers.  
  
" Hey, man!," Adrian said to Rob, " Stop! Let me go!" Adrian was now feeling very freaked out, though still clinging onto the fading hope that this was all a very elaborate prank.  
  
Rob was just about to reach out and grab onto Adrian when something stopped him. Someone was directly behind him. Rob wheeled about just as he felt someone touch his bare arm. Before he had turned around, they were gone, a BAMF! sound in his ears as the smell of brimstone filled the air. Assuring himself that whoever it was had left, he turned back upon the group of teens.  
  
He turned and frowned. There was a large wall of ice blocking his way. He had the power to prevent a mutant from using their powers, but once they had been used there was nothing he could do. He would have to go the long way to Xavier's office.  
  
Rob turned and started in the other direction.  
  
**************  
  
Nightcrawler and Todd reappeared in Xavier's office.  
  
" I did it!," Todd said, and handed the camera phone to the Professor, using his powers to tell himself to display any memory that had anything to do with what Magneto was planning for Rob to do. He concentrated for a moment - he had never really been sure how he had to use his powers to focus upon one single memory. He only hoped that it would work.  
  
" There," Xavier replied, looking at the screen.   
  
" Vhat is it?," Nightcrawler asked, though with a visible shyness to his voice.  
  
Todd and Nightcrawler looked at the phone. They could clearly see the face of the older man who Todd recognized as Magneto.  
  
" He has stood in my way for far too long," Magneto was saying, " I need you to stop Charles Xavier - make him just like these human beings he cares so much for."  
  
And just like that, the picture on the phone cut out.  
  
" Awe, shit," Todd said on impulse, " But how does this guy know what Rob can do?"  
  
Todd rolled his eyes to himself. Obviously, he could find out - he concentrated on telling his brain to display any memories that Rob had on how Magneto learned about Rob's ability. Todd looked down at the phone - there was a new person on the screen, a teenager who Todd did not recognize.  
  
" I don't want anything," the boy was saying, " It's Magneto who wants something."  
  
" John," Xavier said - he knew that Pyro had left in order to join up with Magneto. Xavier also knew that Rob had momentarily used his powers against Pyro - causing Pyro to be unable to use his. That's how Magneto knew.   
  
Xavier concentrated for a moment, sending a mental message to his X-Men, telling them that Rob had been sent on a mission - a mission to take away Xavier's powers forever.  
  
************  
  
" Nice one," Adrian was saying to Bobby as the group of teens made their way down the hall. They had no idea where Rob was - he could be walking right next to them and they would not even realize it. Bobby was walking almost as fast as a person could before breaking out into a run - he was heading to Rogue's room. He had to make sure that she was safe.  
  
They reached the room, and Bobby flung the door open.  
  
The room was empty.  
  
********************  
  
Okay -so this is what I've got now! Tell me what you think is going to happen, and I swear the next chapter will be up in no time!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Please review!  
  
stay positive  
  
deke 


	17. in the company of death

Rob continues on his rampage!  
  
Thanks for all of your reviews, especially to Snitter ( I love ya kido!), Nemesis X (your reviews always make me smile) and ginger (don't worry, I'm fully intending to keep on writing this until it's done). hugs to all ; )   
  
Chapter 17!  
  
********************  
  
Storm had no idea what she, or any of the other X-Men, could do in a situation like this. They were running out, prepared to fight a mutant who had the power to prevent any other mutant from using their own power. It would be the first time that she would have to fight someone without relying on her powers, and the thought of that made her unsure of herself.  
  
The problem was that she, Cyclops, and Wolverine were right now trying to find Rob. He could be just about anywhere and they would not have been able to see him. The only one of them that had any advantage was Logan - he had senses that the other two did not, but would those powers be useless if Rob knew that they were looking for him?  
  
Suddenly, all three of them stopped dead in their tracks. Panic rose in Storm's heart as she realized that she couldn't breath. There wasn't any air in the whole room. She struggled against it as best as she could.  
  
" He's just convincing us," Logan mumbled in a growl, struggling against the power that was being thrust upon him.  
  
But there is very little one can do if one is convinced that there isn't any air.   
  
In a matter of moments, all three X-Men passed out. Which made Rob smile to himself as he released his powers and became visible. He looked down at the fallen mutants slowly, as if soaking up the feeling of victory. This was going to be far too easy.  
  
Before Rob could move on, he heard a voice in his head. Xavier was attempting to breach the mind control and get a message through to the real Rob.  
  
" Rob, you must listen to me," Xavier was saying, " You are being controlled. You must stop what you are doing."  
  
Rob chose to ignore it.  
  
He continued to walk down the hall, using his own memory of the Institute to make his way towards the Professor's office. He met no one, no opposition, not a single person at all - the other students had taken heed to Xavier's warning and were giving Rob all the room that he needed.  
  
Everyone except for Rogue.  
  
She saw Rob walking down the hall and made her way to him as if she was in this hallway purposely to meet him. Rob didn't even bother to use his powers against her - as if he already knew what she was intending to do. Both of the teens stopped walking - they were only a few feet apart. Rob smiled at her in a scheming sort of way.  
  
Rogue took off one of the opera gloves that Bobby had given her just the other day, and offered her bare hand to Rob. Rob did nothing - the silence was deafening.  
  
" Go on!," Rogue shouted at him as if he should have known what she wanted, " Take my powers!"  
  
Rob's smile only deepened.  
  
At that moment, Bobby turned the corner and entered the hallway. Once he realized that Rogue was missing, he knew what she was intending to do - but if she went through with it, then she would no longer be a mutant. He didn't know if Rob could hurt her if he used his powers against her, and he couldn't risk anything happening to Rogue - no matter what such possibilities could mean.  
  
" Rogue, don't!," Bobby said.  
  
Rob only slightly turned his head in Bobby's direction. Bobby made a few more steps and then he stumbled to the ground with a terrorized scream. Rob had convinced him that both of his legs had snapped and were broken. Bobby could no longer do anything to help Rogue - he was in an agonizing pain that clouded his mind from his previous purpose.   
  
There was a look of real alarm on Rogue's face as Bobby's helpless wail reached her ears, but she knew that it was not real. She had to tell herself that it was not real, because Rob had now turned his attention back to Rogue.  
  
" Take my powers!," she shouted again, now more desperately than before, hoping that if he did so he would release his hold on Bobby.   
  
Rob paused for a moment as he considered the request with silence. Only the smirk on his face told of any emotion in his stance, and then he reached out his hand and grabbed Rogue's bare skin.  
  
A new scream penetrated the hallway - but it wasn't Rogue. There was nothing that she could do to subdue her own power, and Rob had grabbed her. Instantly, Rob lost concentration over his powers - Bobby no longer thought that his legs were horribly broken and the X-Men down the hall awoke from unconsciousness.   
  
Rob continued to scream - for the pain was unbearable. The control that he had over his powers were being torn away from him, and he was helpless to do anything about it. The agony brought him to his knees. Rogue did not struggle to get away from him. Rather, she was hoping that Rob's power would imprint upon her so that she could use them against herself. Rob tried to break away from her hold, but she refused to allow him. In his own anger, Rob concentrated on blocking his powers from Rogue's control.  
  
" Take my powers!," she shouted at him once again, her voice clearly revealing her extreme frustration as she realized that she had gained nothing. She used what she had gotten from Rob - his convincibility - in hopes that it would influence him to take away her powers as she made him think that he was on fire.  
  
Bobby rose to his feet, looking at the situation with fear. He knew that Rogue had taken Rob's powers, and were now using those against him, but Bobby still could not believe what he was seeing. Rob was on fire - and Rogue made sure Rob realized that it was an illusion by making the fire's color change. One moment it was green, the next it was blue. Rob continued to scream in agony as he frantically tried to get away from her grip.  
  
Bobby knew that Rogue would be in danger when she finally realized that she could no longer do this and released Rob. If she didn't kill him first. Bobby was already on his feet, and he began to run to her, just as the other X-Men descended upon the situation.  
  
" Rogue, stop!," Bobby shouted, and he grabbed her arm and pulled her away. The two of them fell to the ground.   
  
" No, Bobby," she said as she struggled against him, " Please. Let him take my powers."  
  
Storm, Cyclops, and Wolverine ran up to Rob. He was struggling against what had just happened - he was in terrible pain, not from being convinced he was burning for that had gone away once Rogue broke contact with him. He was in pain because Rogue had nearly killed him.  
  
" Stop him!," Storm said.  
  
" This won't be hard," Logan said, as if delighted with that news, " Rogue just nearly got him down."  
  
Rob looked up at the X-Men - they were all ready to attack, running up to him as if in a battle - even Wolverine's dangerous clawed were drawn. For a moment, he did nothing but look at them, as if bewildered.  
  
Immediately, Rob was gone.  
  
He had used what was left of his strength to make everyone in the room think he was no longer there. The X-Men stopped where they were.  
  
" He could be anywhere now," Cyclops said.  
  
" I'll go protect Xavier," Storm said, knowing that was where Rob was heading in the first place.   
  
" Are you two okay?," Logan asked, walking up to Bobby and Rogue.  
  
" Yeah," Rogue said silently, her breathing coming difficultly.  
  
" You shouldn't have trusted him," Logan said, but there was more important things to take care of. He left Rogue to continue on his mission - to find Rob. When he was gone, Bobby turned to Rogue.  
  
" Rogue, are you sure you are okay?," Bobby asked her warmly, " What did he do to you?"  
  
Rogue said nothing - she was far too ashamed to answer, for she had failed.  
  
*********  
  
Yes, I know, another short one. Next chapter will be up in a few days, and deal with Rob.  
  
please review!  
  
deke 


	18. Everything I touch Falls to Pieces

Okay, okay, this is NOT supposed to be the last chapter, but it may be the last one that I post in a while. My writing-With-Shaken-Certainty-muse has most definately left me for the time being while the Knitting-Like-A-Deranged-Fool-muse has kicked in full force. There's about 3 chapters or so left of this story, and once my darling muse comes back, I'll be posting those as soon as possible.  
  
Enjoy reading, and many many thanx to Nemesis X, Snitter in Rivendell, Escaflowne and everyone else that has been reviewing my crazy story.   
  
Chapter 18  
  
**********  
  
Rob had run. He had run as fast and as long as he could, and now, he desperately needed to catch his breath. He was secluded in the relative peace of a bustling town street, lined by a strip mall. The same street that only a few days before him and Adrian had teleported to. How much things had changed since then.   
  
Rob looked down at his hands. They were no longer red. He had convinced the X-Men that he wasn't there when he had run away, but slowly after using his powers, his skin had faded from red to a pale tan. He didn't understand why, but he never felt so much control over his powers before. He understood what it was that the could do, and it made him tremble.  
  
He could alter a mutant's mutations. Is that why the X-Men had come after him?  
  
He couldn't remember things straight - all he could remember was that he had returned to the school and then suddenly the X-Men had descended upon him. All preparing to fight him. And he was desperately afraid. He couldn't remember how he had escaped his father's laboratory or how he reached the school in the first place. All he knew was that everyone he knew was trying to fight him.  
  
He remembered he had convinced everyone that he was not there, and what did they say? They had to protect Xavier, they had to find Rob in order to stop him - that they could not trust him.  
  
He was alone, and that made him even more afraid. He had no where to go to now. He had no friends, he had no family. Everyone that he had cared about had betrayed him. His father attempted to use him to further his research on his theory of an evolutionary mutations being a result of widespread animal extinctions.  
  
His friends - where were they? - where were they when the whole world was going against him? Rob remembered even his own teachers were trying to attack him, to keep him from going into the school, to keep him away. Why would they do that? Even Storm had been there to fight him - and she was one of the first mutants that he had ever met, one of the first people he met that could promise him hope. And even she had betrayed him.  
  
Rob sat huddled in a ball, his knees pulled up to his chest, his eyes staring out unseeing to the parking lot ahead. He began to realize why he wasn't red anymore. He thought back to things that his father had told him when he was a kid, things about color in the animal kingdom. Bright colors are warning colors. When Rob's skin turned red, it was a warning - a shout out to anyone near that he was using his powers. He had remained red all that time because he couldn't control his powers.  
  
But now he could. Now he understood what his true powers were. He could alter another mutants mutation. He had done that to Kelly, he had almost done it to Pyro. Rob had once felt hurt that Xavier had never told him exactly what his abilities were - but now he understood. They didn't trust him. They thought he was dangerous.  
  
But now he felt control.  
  
Yet he had been betrayed.  
  
Rob shuddered, desperately wishing that he wasn't so alone. Wishing that things hadn't gone the way that they had - that everything would turn out right, that no one wanted to fight him or keep him away from the school.  
  
Rob had to face reality. He wasn't wanted anywhere.  
  
He blinked his eyes dully, finally accepting that reality. *You're not wanted anywhere.* Rob felt so betrayed and yet so desperate that he wanted to cry, but he wouldn't bring himself to do it. He turned his head away, ashamed of himself for being degraded into such a situation, and realized that someone was standing next to him.  
  
Rob looked up. It was Magneto.  
  
" I warned you about trying to return to that school," Magneto said in a voice that easily carried both intelligence and power. Rob thought about it for a second. Had he? He couldn't even remember.  
  
" But why did they want to fight me?," Rob asked himself.  
  
" Because they will never trust you," Magneto said, " Xavier has been trying to keep you from knowing your true power as long as you've been at his school. They think that you are too young and reckless to be entrusted with such a gift."  
  
" But I'm not!," Rob protested angrily.  
  
" Yet now you are alone," Magneto pointed out, " It's a dangerous world - for a mutant to be out on his own."  
  
Magneto let the thought hang in the air and Rob said nothing. He was deep in thought. So much had happened in the past few days and he could hardly keep his thoughts clear. Is that really what Xavier was doing? Hiding the truth? But it had made sense. No matter how much good intentions the Professor had, he had purposely kept the truth from Rob.  
  
Why would he had done that? Rob shuddered as he realized that they DIDN'T trust him. Did they think that if he knew that he had such abilities that he would run around the school, hurting everyone? Rob felt even more insulted, because it was very clear to him that they had.  
  
They didn't even believe in him. They tried to keep the truth away from him, but once it had come out, they had tried to attack him, to drive him away from their presence. Rob clenched his teeth as he wondered if they thought that he was merely expendable, only able to stay in their school if he was blissfully ignorant of his own abilities.  
  
" What is your name?," Magneto's voice sliced through Rob's own thoughts.  
  
" Rob Vincennes," Rob answered.  
  
" No...What is your REAL name?," Magneto clarified. Rob felt a sudden surge of power course through his body and a smile crept slowly upon his lips. His real name? Did he mean, like a codename? Like the X-Men? Rob bit his lip, for he was like any other student at the school - he had always been playing around with the idea of a codename. And like any other student, he was filled with doubts over whether his was good enough.  
  
" Crimson," he replied softly, still having pride of that part of his mutation - and even more pride in it now that he knew that it was directly tied to his greatest ability.  
  
" Well, Crimson," Magneto repeated, " You have a power beyond that of any mutant. Never forget that."  
  
And with those words, Magneto turned and walked back into the parking lot, towards one of the many parked cars that must have been his.  
  
For a few moments, Rob sat alone. Once again he was alone to brood over his own thoughts. He had been sitting here, on that curb for almost an hour. If anyone that he cared about were looking for him, surely they would have found him by now.  
  
Adrian should have found him the second that he had left the school grounds. Why hadn't he come? Was he afraid of Rob as well? And why did Adrian and Brit escape the facility where they had all been taken to and had not gone back to rescue him? Rob felt even more humiliated when he realized that Adrian had left him.  
  
Actually, the person who had come to his rescue was Magneto.  
  
Rob finally knew where he had to go. He no longer wanted to be deceived. The school had been his home - he felt safe there, content. His friends lived there, he had so much fun within those walls, playing pranks on everyone with Adrian right by his side. As long as he rejected and ignored his true powers, he would always be safe there.  
  
Rob stood up, and watched as Magneto walked away. The man was strange - possessing incredible strength and intelligence for someone who was his age. Yet he also had an understanding of what Rob was, what his potential was.  
  
Rob stood still for a moment, his voice slowly finding it's way from the bottom of his throat.  
  
" Magneto!," he shouted out as if for a last farewell. The older man stopped where he was and turned around expectedly. Rob almost quelled under that stare - it spoke of things that Rob could never have encountered, of possibilities almost too hard to believe.  
  
With shaken certainty, Rob spoke with a clear voice,   
  
" Magneto, I want to join the Brotherhood." 


	19. Farewell stars

Yiaks! Well, here we go with chapter 19.   
  
** A few notes – This is obviously treading into uncharted movie fic territory, seeing that the inevitable X3 has yet to come out, so I'm feeling a tad bit anxious about whether or not this is going to work out… But…. Seeing that I have no idea what is supposed to happen, we're going to carry on with Rob's wonderful story as I see fit.   
  
Also, another note ** Some other mutants that could be named Sir-Not-Appearing-In-This-Film are also going to make a few appearances in this fic because they rock so damn much. I have no idea how old THEY are supposed to be in the movie universe, but I'm just making all this up. Agh! All of this is super duper scary! Ah! So when X3 comes out, no one come running to me telling me that all of this is wrong! Please! Only so much I can do!!!  
  
(with no further ado, we are pleased to bring you) Chapter 19  
  
**********  
  
Pyro was creeping around the corridor, though seeing his circumstances, it was basically pointless. There was very little that someone could do when they were tracking a person like Crimson - all one could do was wait and see if he showed his face.  
  
Which was what Pyro was NOT willing to wait for.  
  
Yet he was on a mission, so Pyro continued on, knowing that he could not trust his senses - any sound could be an illusion, anything he saw could be a mirage. It was difficult looking for someone who could be walking right next to you without you even noticing, but Pyro was persistent. He HAD to prove to Magneto that he was better.  
  
It had been nearly five months since Crimson had joined the Brotherhood, and through out that time, he had been steadily rising in his skills. Pyro even had to admit to himself that it was clear that Magneto thought Crimson was a better ally than him. If only Crimson knew WHY he was there…  
  
Pyro kept walking down the corridor – sure, this mission was only a training battle – but he was determined not to fail.  
  
He stopped walking. He had reached a dead end – somewhere where there had never been a dead end before. Pyro wheeled around on his heel and stared down the opposite end of the hallway as if expecting to see someone. He knew to be on his guard – Crimson was obviously there – but what could he do?  
  
There was the sound of laughter – Pyro clenched his hands into fists, and continued to stare down the hallway. He wasn't about to start looking for Crimson – and he would not allow him to make the first move.  
  
Pyro grabbed his lighter, and as quickly as he could, he lit a flame. He caught the fire in his hand and held it there – either Crimson was no longer there or he was allowing Pyro to use his powers. The second option was not a very encouraging thought – and just to prove himself, Pyro shot a wall of fire down the hallway towards where the dead end had appeared.  
  
Crimson most likely had not expected that – because the dead end disappeared from Pyro's sight. Pyro smiled in victory, despite the fact that it was a small victory.  
  
" You haven't won yet," Pyro heard Crimson's matter-of-fact voice, and the sound of approach – he wheeled about just in time to see a large, ferocious dog running towards him. Pyro shot another wall of fire at the dog – it disappeared just before the fire consumed it. Pyro turned the other way, where the dead end used to be, and shot another wall of fire towards it for good measure.  
  
Pyro stood panting for a few moments – he was becoming far too frustrated than he should have allowed himself, but these kind of battles were pointless. How much longer could he keep trying to beat Crimson?   
  
There was nothing but silence, and after standing for a few more moments, Pyro decided to keep moving.  
  
He kept the flame in his hand, as a way to see if Crimson was close enough to use his powers of preventing a mutant from using their power. Pyro walked slowly – listening as hard as he could for any sound of approach. He knew it was useless, but it was better than standing still and waiting for Crimson to make the first move.  
  
Pyro stopped dead in his tracks with a yelp of surprise. The flame in his hand had burned before it flickered out. Crimson was going to make his attack.  
  
Pyro kept his hand balled into tight fists as he looked around himself. He felt cornered, vulnerable, and moments away from losing yet another battle. He waited.  
  
He did not have to wait long.  
  
Only a few moments after he had lost control over his power, Pyro felt a blow to the back of his knee, his leg knocked out from under him. He was caught at surprise and fell to the ground, hitting his back hard against the rock floor. He jumped back up to his feet, yet his feet were knocked out from under him again. This time he fell forward, his reflexes working fast enough for him to throw up his arms and prevent him from hitting his chin on the ground.  
  
He could not get back up.  
  
Crimson dug his knee into Pyro's back, and held both of Pyro's hands to the ground. Pyro looked at his arms – pinned to the ground by an unseen force. Then, just in a blink of the eye, there were red hands. Pyro could hear Crimson's victorious laugh as the hands faded to a tan color.  
  
" Big surprise," Pyro muttered sarcastically under his breath, hating every time that he lost a battle to Crimson – how could fighting Crimson even be close to being fair?  
  
" Hey, I gave you PLENTY of opportunities," Crimson said, still not standing up even though he had clearly won, " You just chose not to take them."  
  
Pyro gritted his teeth together, but said nothing.   
  
He had lost, yet again – or so he thought.  
  
In a flash, Crimson was knocked clear off Pyro with a cry of alarm and fell to the ground a few feet away. He rolled to a stop, coughed in surprise – but was up on his feet in a matter of moments. Crimson stood ready, but Pyro was just as fast to react.  
  
He had lit his lighter and caught a flame just as quickly as it took for Quicksilver to make another pass at Crimson. Crimson did not even have the time to use his own powers – he was knocked to the ground once again, hardly even a glimpse remained of the mutant who was fighting him.  
  
Crimson did not even bother getting to his feet again – he stretched out with his ability, and sought out this new attacker. He could hear Pyro growling with anger as he lost control over his powers and burnt his hand once again. Crimson heard another sound as well, the sound of his assailant falling out of his sprint as he lost control over his abilities as well.  
  
It was then that Crimson jumped back up to his feet, and he used his powers to make it so that the two mutants he was fighting could no longer see him. He smiled to himself – he loved watching them when they knew that he was right in front of them but they could no longer see him. To Crimson, it was fun to watch as that emotion gripped them – they were powerless. They could not use their abilities, they could not see their attacker, and all they could do is wait.  
  
Crimson had won yet again.  
  
********************************  
  
Todd was sitting in the lounge, hardly even paying attention to what was going on around him – instead his interest was in the camera cell phone that his mom had given him months ago. He was concentrating on developing his powers as much as he could, and as the days went by, his abilities were becoming more and more defined.   
  
At the moment, he had been trying to access memories from Nightcrawler – to pinpoint a certain memory from his days in the Munich Circus. So far, he wasn't doing too bad – he had reached memories of a circus, but nothing even close to the particular stunt that Kurt had mentioned. It would have been much easier if Todd could have just used the television to display his power – but Multiple was quite reluctant to give it up.   
  
" Is this it?," Todd asked, biting his lip in uncertainty, and gave Kurt the phone. He looked at the memory displayed for a moment before shaking his head.  
  
" Uh, nein," Kurt began, " There veren't angels in it."  
  
Kurt gave the phone back to Todd, and shrugged.   
  
" Were there ANY without angels in them?," Todd asked himself, realizing that he didn't have as much control over his powers as he had thought.  
  
In another corner of the lounge, Adrian was sitting on the couch next to Multiple, leaning forward with keen interest.   
  
" Look, I'm sorry, I have to make some rules," Adrian said, cutting into their conversation, and smiled. On the opposite end of the lounge, a confused looking Nightcrawler peered back with interest.  
  
" Vat rules?," Kurt asked.  
  
" Okay, see, I'm sorry to break it to you," Adrian started in a terribly fake authoritarian voice, " But I mean, there's got to be some sort of rules. I just can't feel safe teleporting if there weren't 'porting rules."  
  
" Huh?," Kurt asked, more confused than before.  
  
" Rule one," Adrian began, ignoring the interruption, " A teleporter can't teleport another teleporter. There's no way that would ever work."  
  
" Vhy vouldn't it vork?," Kurt asked, now completely engrossed in Adrian's rule-making, and ignoring the fact that he was there to help Todd.  
  
" Because!," Adrian exclaimed with the most ridiculously exaggerated voice, " I mean, where would we go? It would be chaos! Mass pandemonium would break out! End of the world! Stuff like that. It's got to be made into a rule – no way I'm taking a chance with that one."  
  
Neither Kurt nor Adrian said anything, and Adrian – apparently already bored with his game of making up rules – got up and teleported from the lounge altogether. The room filled with a silence with an air of bewilderment on it.  
  
" How about this one?," Todd asked Kurt, and handed him the camera phone once more. Kurt took it and looked at it for a brief moment.  
  
Kurt shook his head once again and replied, " There veren't trees in the circus."  
  
Todd took the phone and looked at the memory he had displayed there – it had absolutely nothing to do with the circus at all.  
  
" Oh, I give up," Todd said, thrusting the phone into his pocket and rolling his eyes at his own inability to control his powers.  
  
For a few moments, he sat there fuming over the fact that he worked so hard and yet seemed to constantly loose control. He was hardly paying attention to his frustration, because the second his anger took priority over his concentration, the television in the lounge flickered menacingly.  
  
Jamie was sitting at the couch, and turned around to give Todd a disapproving look.  
  
" Uh… Todd?," he asked.  
  
That was enough for Todd to snap out of his brooding, and he looked up at the television screen. The sight was enough to make his blood run cold.  
  
The memory was a familiar one – Todd was standing at the foot of the stairs, looking up as his brother tried to evade him.  
  
" 'They said you're a mutant,'" Todd heard his own voice say over the TV speakers, and then the memory cut out from the screen. Todd got up out of his seat and stormed out of the lounge.   
  
No matter how much time had passed – he was still furious that his brother had joined the Brotherhood. How could Rob do such a thing? He understood that Rob had been under mind control when he had made his attack on the mansion – Professor Xavier had explained to him all about that – but Todd had always believed that his brother was smart enough to know the difference between right and wrong.  
  
Couldn't Rob realize that joining a group of radical mutants who wanted humankind to be exterminated was wrong?  
  
Or did he think like them now?  
  
Todd hated that uncertainty – it was on his mind so much that if he wasn't concentrating, he would accidentally display memories of his brother upon whatever monitor was close. He got frustrated with himself when he did that – it only reminded him of what had happened.  
  
Truth was – that was why he was having such a hard time at controlling his powers. He spent so much more time trying to block his own memories of his brother's existence that he had little energy left to spend on developing his powers.  
  
And the fact that he had lost control only made him more furious.  
  
********************  
  
Okay, a bit of a short one – sorry! I don't know when I'll update next, but I'll let everyone know, kay?  
  
Review already!  
  
Deke 


	20. Farewell Earth

Okay – here we go with Chapter 20!!!!!!!!!!! Only one more chapter to go, and then it will all be over : ) So, how do you think it's gonna turn out? o.O Definitely expect a lot of the excitement, action, and angst increase in this chappie! Read on, and totally don't forget to review!  
  
Chapter 20   
  
******************   
  
Pyro was sick of waiting for Crimson. He had been standing by the beach for what felt like five hours, and all he got in return was the same view of the pathetic half-frozen ocean. He rolled his eyes to himself since no one else was around, and he looked at his wrist watch.  
  
It was 9.20 PM. Crimson was most definitely late.  
  
It was well on winter at this time, and even if Pyro HAD dressed for the weather, it was terribly difficult to stand in the snow, waiting for someone he hardly liked. Pyro kept himself occupied by thinking of how much fun it would be if he told Magneto how late Crimson was all the time. It would probably be great if it went the way Pyro was thinking, but he frowned to himself when he realized that Magneto would most likely not care. Crimson was someone very important to Magneto - he was immensely favored in the Brotherhood - and it probably would not make a difference no matter how often he was late.  
  
Especially since they weren't even on a mission.  
  
It was Friday night, and like any teenagers, Pyro and Crimson were itching for a chance to have a night on the town. Of course, this was a lot better than staying at Xavier's - at least Magneto wasn't at all worried if either of the teens decided to use their powers. In fact, he seemed to encourage it.  
  
Which worked fine for Pyro. There was always some one who was stupid enough to mess with him, and he was always delighted beyond measure when someone was. It just gave him another opportunity to demonstrate that mutants were better than humans any day.  
  
But at the moment, he was still standing on the shore, waiting. Waiting for Crimson. Crimson that could beat anyone in a fight. Pyro subconsciously rubbed his ribs when he thought of that - he had not forgotten their last training battle.  
  
Just then, a group of giddy teenage girls ran past him and stood by the ocean, laughing in a tone that seemed far too loud to be normal. He stood watching them for a moment - his eyes narrowing into slants. God, they're annoying, Pyro thought to himself. Just about as annoying as Crimson. He rolled his eyes again. He would never wait this long for him again.  
  
He turned to leave, and ran right smack into someone that had been standing almost directly next to him. Except that no one was there.  
  
" Leaving already?," that was Crimson's voice.  
  
" How long have you been standing there?," Pyro demanded as Crimson allowed himself to be seen. A flash of red spread over Crimson's face and then it was gone.   
  
" That's not important," Crimson explained as he turned on his heel and began to walk away, " Come on, we don't want to waste any more of the night, do we?"  
  
Pyro scowled, but reluctantly followed.  
  
He didn't know why he allowed himself to hang out with Crimson, after all, he was torn between feelings of jealousy and responsibility. Crimson was a part of the Brotherhood, but Pyro couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with hatred when he lost battle after battle against his teammate. Crimson didn't exactly let himself lose. So why did Pyro keep hanging out with him?   
  
Perhaps pure necessity drove him to find companionship with anyone even close to his age. Everyone else in the Brotherhood were older - much, much older - and didn't have time to address the needs that a teenager would be facing. They were busy formulating plans, gathering information - stuff that one would expect a radical mutant group bent on thoughts of human genocide would be doing. They didn't have time to go to the city and hang out with Pyro. Which left him with only one choice.  
  
Crimson.  
  
And even if they both needed each other for friendship, they both still understood the fact that they hated each other.  
  
They had been walking around downtown for ten minutes before Crimson stopped, arms crossed over his chest and smiling at the scene before him.  
  
" See, I told you - perfect," Crimson said once Pyro joined his side.  
  
They were standing before a giant ice skating rink. Crimson smiled as possibilities filled his mind. He stood absolutely still, watching the people in front of them as they skated around and around and around. It never once crossed his mind that it would be entertainment to hurt such people - he just had fun messing with them. Making them see things that weren't there and laughing at them when they couldn't figure it out.  
  
At heart, he was still a prankster.  
  
" Okay, who do I start with first?," Crimson asked, his voice drenched with anticipation, eyeing each of the skaters in turn. As if he were too impatient to wait for Pyro's suggestion, a few people around the rink fell flat on their faces.   
  
" Shoes untied," Crimson explained, smirking as the fallen skaters looked at their tightly tied skates in confusion.  
  
Pyro scanned the same ice rink as well, and then pointed someone out, " There, what about that business man looking guy," Pyro laughed. Even though this was childish and not exactly as fun as catching innocent people on fire, it was still good amusement.  
  
Crimson could never see what it was that he could make other people see, which was no problem now. Sometimes, it was just plan funnier watching someone react to things that did not exist. He spotted out the business-man-looking-guy that Pyro had mentioned - he was young, obviously going too far to try to impress the girls, and definitely business-man-looking-guy material. Crimson quickly went through a list of ideas in his head of perfect pranks reserved for just such an occasion before he settled upon one. Crimson smiled, and stretched out with his power.  
  
Just about as suddenly as if someone had pulled his feet out from under him, the man that Crimson was set out to torment had fallen to the ground. He made severely awkward movements that hardly made sense until the young man explained…  
  
" The ice broke!," he cried out, " I'm drowning!"  
  
Nearly everyone around the ice skating rink burst out in laughing – Crimson and Pyro the loudest, of course. The girl that had most obviously been his date shunned away in embarrassment. If it hadn't been for the man's sincere effort into 'saving' himself from the 'hole' in the 'ice,' it could have been a very good joke.  
  
But even jokes can be convincing, and in hardly any time at all, the man's lips had turned blue and he was shivering violently.  
  
" He's having a seizure!," the man's date cried out, resurrecting herself from her embarrassment.  
  
What was once laughter had now broken out into mass concern bordering on hysteria.  
  
" Someone call an ambulance!," another skater called out.  
  
" Whoa," Crimson said, instantly letting go of his powers, his skin flashing red for only a moment before returning to tan, " It's not that cold out."  
  
To emphasize Crimson's point, Pyro took out his lighter, lit a flame and then slammed the Zippo back closed again.  
  
The man blinked wildly for a few moments, and suddenly realized that he wasn't drowning in a hole in the ice (which would have been impossible anyways, and he noticed that he should have realized that).   
  
" I'm okay," the man said to the crowd, " Could you please just… move?" He added, hoping that they would all stop crowding around him. He wasn't exactly expecting attention like this, but everyone around the whole skating rink was silent with concern, everyone except –   
  
Crimson and Pyro were laughing. They were laughing so hard that it took effort for the people around the ice skating rink NOT to turn in their direction to give them a cold stare.   
  
" That was classic!," Crimson proclaimed amidst his laughter.  
  
" Hey!," the man's date shouted at them, " Show some respect!"  
  
" Respect?," Pyro asked slyly, chocking out a laugh, and once again flicking open his lighter to light a flame. Crimson stopped laughing and glared at Pyro – but something inside of him stopped himself from using his powers against him.  
  
Pyro slammed close the lighter again, flicked it open, and lit another flame.   
  
Pyro's momentary seriousness dropped, and he began laughing once again, admiring the flame upon his lighter.  
  
" Can you believe that?," he asked Crimson, " Do they expect us to respect some guy who just thought he was drowning?"  
  
Crimson said nothing in response – this game was slowly turning down a different path.  
  
Pyro shot Crimson a strange look, as if he was hoping to find a shred of encouragement from his fellow mutant, and Crimson purposely stared straight ahead, hoping to avoid giving Pyro any sort of look that would pass as being support. But Crimson did nothing to try to prevent Pyro. He didn't understand why.  
  
Pyro turned back to the man who had thought he was drowning.  
  
Both the man, his date, and all the other people around the skating rink were looking in their direction – Pyro smiled at them.  
  
" Didn't you hear me the first time?," the woman who was the man's date shouted at them. A few moments beforehand, she had been thrust into dire concern over her date – and the next a couple of teenagers were laughing at him. She couldn't help her anger.  
  
" Just leave it alone," the man said as he got back up to his feet, eager for a chance to disappear from the crowd.  
  
" You could have died and these kids just - ," the woman started in defense, and then she stopped.   
  
She fell right to the ground, her lips pursed into a giant 'O' and she blundered about on the ice just as her date did a few moments before.  
  
" The ice! It broke!," the woman explained. There was no sound but the woman's frantic cries and Crimson's laughter.  
  
Pyro looked over at Crimson with a smile. It took a moment for Pyro to reach the conclusion that maybe he wasn't so bad after all.  
  
The woman blinked her eyes madly for a few moments, realized that the ice under her had not broken, and looked up at the two teenagers just as all the other people who were crowded about were doing the same.  
  
The people gasped. They had all seen it – Crimson lived up to his namesake as he let go of his powers over the woman and his skin turned a brilliant red. The color faded much too slow.  
  
" They…," the woman stuttered, not daring to get to her feet, " They're mutants!"  
  
Pyro didn't seem like he wanted to leave any room for doubt – because just after she said that, a blast of fire erupted from his lit lighter and tore across the skating rink. The people only had a few moments to duck – most of them fell face first into the ice.  
  
Pyro began to laugh madly – shooting out another blast of fire just for good measure. He laughed.  
  
" Hey, cut it out!," Crimson shouted at him, elbowing him hard in the chest. Pyro paused from his manic laughing as Crimson pointed something out. Both mutants groaned – Pyro's senseless fire attack had attracted the attention of quite a number of cops.  
  
" Well…," Pyro started, but he didn't say much else – both teens looked at their options, thought about it for a moment, and took off running.  
  
" Great mess you landed us into now," Crimson shouted at Pyro as they ran from the scene – sounds of the pursuing officers close behind them.  
  
" Why don't you be a pal and make them STOP following us," Pyro shouted back sarcastically. Pyro looked over his shoulder at the cops, and suddenly they all turned down a different street – running in a completely different direction. Crimson was looking over his shoulder as well, and he caught Pyro's eyes.  
  
" All in a days work, right?," Crimson asked with a smile.  
  
Pyro merely rolled his eyes, and then both him and Crimson stopped dead in their tracks. Neither teen was looking where he was going – they both had run right into someone. They both looked up and groaned again. It was another cop.  
  
And Crimson's skin was now bright red.  
  
" Hey!," the cop said in a rich New Yorker accent, caught off guard and at a complete lose of saying anything better.   
  
" Yeah," Crimson replied, equally at a lose for words. There was a brief hesitation before he and Pyro decided to take off running again – they turned on their heels and ran right into the same group of cops that they had sent off in the other direction earlier.   
  
They were surrounded.  
  
But not for long.  
  
Before Crimson could have done a logical thing and made their escape a bit more secretive – Pyro shot a blast of fire at the group of policeman that was now in front of them. The police scattered – some falling to the ground, others fleeing from the flame. Crimson reached out with his power and stopped Pyro from using his – but that didn't do anything to the fire that Pyro had already caused, it just prevented him from controlling it. There were actual people on fire – the sight of it made Crimson sick.  
  
These officers had never had to deal with mutants before – their fear of these two teenagers was the best indicator – and they had no idea what to do.  
  
Except for fighting back.  
  
Once the firestorm from Pyro had reached it's end, the officers did the next logical step – stop the mutants. One of the cops pulled out a strange looking gun and shot it at Pyro. It was a taser gun – it's two harpoon like projectiles flung forward and punctured themselves right into Pyro's chest.   
  
He looked down at his chest, and then he fell to his knees.  
  
The scream was nerve-racking – it was all that Pyro could do to placate the pain that had overwhelmed his body. He was helpless to do anything at all about it – he collapsed to the ground, unaware of anything besides his agony.  
  
Crimson had to act swiftly. In a blink of an eye – both teens had vanished. The cop holding the taser gun looked up, turned off the electric current and shouted to his fellow cops, " Where did they go?"  
  
Crimson tore the two projectiles from Pyro's chest and tried to lift him to a stand, but Pyro was beyond himself in recovering from his pain. His whole body lacked the strength to bare it's own weight – Crimson threw one of Pyro's arms over his shoulder and began to walk away. The cops were left behind, still ignorant as to where their suspects had gone.  
  
But Crimson could not hold onto his powers for long.  
  
It was too hard to concentrate, he was angry and terrified and gripped with an inescapable feeling of being pursued. They only got about a block away before he had to let go of his powers.  
  
The group of police officers, who had already begun to search for the two deadly teen mutants, spotted them quickly.  
  
" Stop or I'll shoot!," Crimson heard a cop bellow at him. He didn't stop, he just concentrated on using his power against that one cop. But that didn't stop the rest of them.  
  
" Come on," Crimson urged Pyro, who had not progressed much further in attempting to walk on his own. Pyro simply continued to stumble, a shaking hand over his chest. He was breathing hard, close to hyperventilating.  
  
Crimson stopped. He could not walk any further, he looked up and realized that they were once again completely surrounded by cops. He groaned – they all had their real guns drawn and were pointing them at him.  
  
" Surrender peacefully now!," an officer shouted at him. Crimson considered it for a moment, but then thought about how disappointed Magneto would be if he gave up without a fight. Crimson's hesitation cost him.  
  
A cop who was standing behind the two mutants reached forward and grabbed Crimson's arm. In hardly a second, the cop had both of his arms pinned behind him. Crimson was forced to drop Pyro – he fell to the ground without hesitation.   
  
Crimson struggled to free himself. He was desperate – his teeth bared in his frustration, kicking out his legs in an attempt to hurt these cops as much as they intended to hurt him.  
  
Then, all the cops fell to the ground.  
  
Rob was concentrating as hard as he could – his adrenaline fueling his powers as he forced all the cops to believe that they could no longer breath. Somehow, he felt like he had done this before.  
  
He knew that it wouldn't last forever. He grabbed Pyro, forced him to his feet, and took off at the best run that he could muster. It seemed impossible that they would ever get out of this one.  
  
**********  
  
" Traffic again," Adrian said, rolling his eyes.  
  
" It's New York City, what do you expect?," Todd replied.  
  
They were (obviously) stuck in traffic, snow blowing down on their windshield, their spirits not exactly the greatest. They had convinced Professor Xavier to let them go out for an afternoon to the city, and now they were definitely late.  
  
" Who knew there would be so much traffic, at," Adrian said, checking his watch and frowning, " 5.30… Oh… Well, that explains a lot."  
  
" We're going to be in so much trouble," Todd predicted, but Adrian knew that they wouldn't be. It was his suggestion that him and Todd go out to the city. Lately, Todd had been overwhelmed by his anger at his brother, and Adrian was hoping that breaking up the routine in Todd's life would help to quench some of that emotion.  
  
For the most part, it had worked. But now they were sitting in traffic, the preoccupation with a day's activities began to wear off, and Todd was once again dwelling on other thoughts.  
  
" Hey, are you okay or am I going to have to call an ambulance?," Adrian asked Todd. It had felt weird that he had become friends with his former best friend's brother – they didn't have the same bond that Adrian and Rob had once shared and Adrian missed that. He missed playing pranks on the other students, he missed scheming on ways to get out of class, he missed the fun that they had. Sure, him and Rob had only been friends for a few months, but it was as if they knew each other for their whole lives.  
  
He never actually said it, but he knew exactly what Todd was going through – that feeling of being abandoned, of being rejected for something so much worse. Adrian understood Todd, because he missed Rob, too.  
  
" Yeah," Todd said, answering Adrian's question, but there wasn't a hint of emotion on his voice. Adrian's concern only reminded him that his brooding was becoming noticeable. Trying to ignore Adrian, Todd took out his phone and looked at the monitor.  
  
He closed the phone and thrust it back into his pocket – Adrian didn't even have to guess what memory had been projected there. There was a strange silence in the Jeep.  
  
That is, until people started to run in the streets, obviously in fear.  
  
Adrian peered forward, through the windshield, up at the skyscrapers and replied, " Come on, guys, how many are you going to knock down?"  
  
Obviously not getting an answer from the intact skyscrapers, he rolled down his window and shouted at the first person who lingered long enough by his Jeep.  
  
" Hey, what's going on?," Adrian shouted.  
  
" Mutants, man!," the passerby screeched, " They're catching people on fire and blowing things up and everything."  
  
The person took off running again, and Adrian put the Jeep in park.   
  
" Well," Adrian trailed off, " The good news is that could only mean one thing."  
  
Todd fumed, " Pyro."  
  
Adrian sighed, " Bad news is it probably means Rob, too."  
  
Todd's eyes narrowed into slits at the mention of his brother. They both got out of the Jeep and fought against the current of frightened New Yorkers. Adrian crossed behind a car to rejoin Todd on the other side of the street.  
  
" Look on the bright side, it would be a good time to start up purse snatching again, huh?," Adrian asked, trying to make a joke of the pandemonium, though it was clear that Todd was not in the mood for jokes.  
  
They continued to fight their way through traffic.  
  
****************  
  
Crimson was close to a run, Pyro had regained enough of his previous strength to do his best to keep up. Crimson still had a firm grip on Pyro's jacket, as if too accustomed to picking him back up again to let go.   
  
" Come on!," Crimson urged – for they were being pursued.  
  
Pyro was coughing without pause, a hand still over his chest to try to comfort his frantic heart. He felt weary with a nauseous dizziness, his lungs were on fire as his coughing could testify, his legs were ridiculously feeble underneath him, and the only thing that kept him running was Crimson by his side.  
  
Pyro was finally glad that he was in company with Crimson – at least Crimson did not abandon him.  
  
But Crimson was running out of options. He was experiencing a fierce headache – over using his powers were finally taking it's toll on him. He was only hoping to get away, to escape these people that were chasing them – but there were too many of them.  
  
He reached yet another street corner and looked at the steady stream of speeding traffic before him. A look back the way he had come confirmed the fact that they were too closely being followed by the police. Their numbers had steadily increased over the few minutes of the pursuit, enough so that escape was looking meek – no matter which way Crimson turned, he saw cops. Lots of cops.  
  
Crimson bit his lip and tugged at Pyro's jacket – they were going to make a chance at the traffic.  
  
" Are you crazy?!," Pyro managed to spit out, but Crimson was not in the mood to explain. They had to escape – Crimson could not fail now.  
  
Most of the cars wailed to a halt when the two teenagers jumped out into the road, some just continued to roar on by. Both Crimson and Pyro were drenched in ice-cold slush when a semi truck refused to stop for them – spraying them with a tidal wave of snow. The shock of the extreme cold nearly brought Crimson to the ground, but he fought the urge. For Pyro, it was nearly too much. He stared out with wide eyes, and his legs failed him once again. He would have fallen if Crimson was not still holding onto his jacket.  
  
Crimson turned around and noticed that the cops were making their way into the traffic as well, guns drawn, commanding the first few lanes of vehicles to come to a stop.  
  
" Come on!," Crimson demanded, halfway dragging Pyro across yet another lane of traffic. Pyro struggled to his feet, and then he stopped. Crimson stepped into the last lane of traffic, and lost his grip on Pyro's jacket.  
  
He would have turned back around to urge Pyro on further, but something stopped him. Crimson got hit by a car.  
  
The SUV had been going about 40 miles an hour – the driver being too preoccupied with other things to notice the teenager in the lane ahead. Crimson had turned to grab Pyro again, his back was to the SUV – he never saw what hit him.  
  
The first point of impact was the bumper of the vehicle colliding his Crimson's leg – it was fractured immediately. The force that the blow, as well as the SUV's continued forward momentum threw Crimson up onto the car's windshield – he hit the glass with his shoulder first, and then smashed his head into it. He tumbled over the hood and fell to the ground as the car slammed into park.   
  
Crimson hit the ground and rolled six times before coming to a stop. He landed on his side – the initial shock kept him from falling into unconsciousness. Crimson forced himself to sit up, not even coming close to guessing what had just happened.  
  
" Rob!," that was a familiar voice.  
  
Crimson blinked, and held a hand up to his forehead. When he drew it away to examine his hand, it was coated in blood. He blinked again, and realized how heavy his eyelids felt. A blanket was being drawn over his eyes, drawing away the light, and Crimson mustered his strength to fight against it. But he slowly became aware of a pain – the shock was wearing off, and the piercing agony of his tortured body was flooding his awareness.  
  
His eye lids fluttered for a moment, but their weight was becoming unbearable. He realized someone was shaking him.  
  
" Rob!," the voice called out again, but it reverberated through out Crimson's skull – the sound was too far away to help him now. He reached out his blood soaked hand – he was too far gone to call out for help. He needed someone to grab him, to pull him out of this. The world was spinning around him, the light fading from him despite his efforts to keep strong. He was falling. If only someone would grab his hand and pull him out of it.  
  
" Rob, NO!," the voice shouted out one last desperate time, but it was too late.  
  
Crimson lost the strength and at once faded into darkness.  
  
**********  
  
Review, already! 


	21. Fare well

Hey everyone – here we are with the last chapter. Yep. After this one, the story is at an end. I was thinking of *perhaps* doing a sequel of a few chapters and whatnot, if anyone is interested, send me an email or say something in yer review.   
  
I'm also going to be doing a couple of X-Men Evolution fanfics, one revolving around Jamie and another about Bobby – so keep yer eyes open for that. Also, during the duration of writing this chapter, I ate about 5 mangos…. Go mangos!  
  
Without further ado – here's the last chapter  
  
Chapter 21  
  
********  
  
It had begun to snow.  
  
Todd was kneeling upon the slush on the road – by this time, just about all traffic had come to a stand still and he was dully aware that someone was calling out to him. He hardly noticed the world around him, except for the silence that had gripped the night. The snowflakes caught reflections of light, and they danced to the road – adding a surreal appearance to the scene.  
  
He was clutching his brother. He had been there when Rob was fading. He had been there to catch him when he fell. He had been there.  
  
The world had stood still for that moment – as Todd looked down at his brother, his hands were dripping with his blood. He attempted to say words, but no matter how hard he tried, they got lost in his throat.  
  
The words were lost on the way to his throat, but they found their way to his eyes – he couldn't help himself. He knew guys weren't supposed to cry, but he was in tears. They were the only words he could say.  
  
He had spent so much time over the past few months being angry – hating his brother for the fact that Rob had joined up with the Brotherhood – but now he hated himself. How could he have wasted time like that? How could he have wasted the time left? Why hadn't he tried to get in contact with Rob instead of just being angry and upset.  
  
But there was no time for that now. He had lost the time.  
  
He held Rob in his arms, clutching his brother as if he was afraid that letting go would be the end of him. He held onto him desperately – sobbing in his terror. He watched as the tears dropped off his cheek and melted in with the snow that was slowly gathering on Rob's face. It wasn't going to end like this. It couldn't.  
  
" Don't move him!," Todd heard a voice say. It shook him out of his state, and he looked up. It was a woman – the same woman who had hit Rob with her SUV. Todd didn't say anything, but he looked up at her with a tear streaked face.  
  
" Don't move him!," the woman repeated, the panic in her voice giving her a tremble in her voice, and knelt down beside Todd, " I'm a nurse, it's okay. You can't move him, he's got a compound fracture. Moving him can kill him. Just lay him back down on the ground."  
  
" He's dead already!," Todd shouted at her, his voice cracking under his sadness.  
  
The woman placed her first two fingers at Rob's neck, checking for a pulse. Todd watched her with a disconnected air – this was not real, he kept telling himself. Rob's lips were already turning blue.   
  
The woman took her fingers away, and said nothing. Instead, she grabbed Todd's arms and tried to pry him away from his brother.  
  
" What are you doing?!," Adrian finally finding his own voice, though it was chocked in terror as well.  
  
" You have to keep him still," the woman explained, coaxing Todd into letting go of his brother, " That's the only way he's going to live."  
  
Todd's heart leaped in his throat, " You mean… he's alive." It wasn't a question – it was a statement.   
  
Before the woman could say anything else, a group of nearly 15 police officers ran up, guns drawn and pointed at Rob.  
  
" Everyone, back away! Don't trust this kid," one of the cops shouted, inching closer to Rob. Todd looked up at him in a bizarre confusion.  
  
Adrian didn't like the feeling of being surrounded, especially by people who had guns pointed at him – and he especially didn't like the fact that everyone was shouting. He was surrounded by cars – cars with engines roaring, people pointing and whispering on the sidewalks, the snow crunching under everyone's feet, the snow melting and dripping down into the sewers. And now he had to endure these officers – shouting and pointing guns.  
  
He looked past them, to where Pyro was still kneeling on the ground with a look on his face that clearly showed that he hardly had any clue what was going on. Pryo was being pulled to his feet by the cops that surrounded him – it made Adrian smile within.  
  
But Adrian wasn't about to let Rob fall into their hands. He reached down and grabbed Todd's shoulder – Todd already understood, and hardly a few seconds after the cops had first appeared before them, Todd, Rob, and Adrian teleported out of sight.  
  
The cops were used to tricks being played on them, they were used to Rob's power. They stood where they were, looking around with their guns still drawn, waiting for the mutants to reappear. But they never did.  
  
But someone else did appear. Seemingly out of thin air, a silver-haired mutant pulled himself out of his sprint and stood where Rob had only been a few seconds earlier. He had been too late. The cops that were present were too accustomed to being surprised to be caught off guard.   
  
But Quicksilver darted his way past them before they were able to subdue him. Pietro sprinted so fast that he was merely a shadow, a wisp of wind that flashed past the officers. He made his way to where Pyro was being dragged away – those officers hardly understood what had happened. A very very very fast person merely appeared, grabbed Pyro and took off running again.  
  
All the mutants were now gone, and the cops were left with nothing to manage except for one tremendous "directing parking" job.  
  
**************  
  
Adrian kept teleporting. He didn't even bother to return to his Jeep. Right now, he understood that Rob needed help – FAST – and driving would only slow him down. He didn't care how nauseous he got, he didn't care how much energy he would have to expel to make sure that they returned to the mansion – Adrian just knew that he had to get there as fast as possible.  
  
He had never teleported so much or so fast in all his life. Their feet barely touched the ground for a half of a second before they were gone again. Adrian's head burned as if he had been holding his breath – he could feel his will power slipping ever so slowly. He kept his teeth tightly clenched, forcing himself to go onwards.  
  
They reached the mansion in only a few sparse minutes, but even that was time that they didn't have.   
  
Adrian, Todd, and Rob appeared in the school – Todd had already passed out from the abuse that the teleporting had cause, and Adrian was awake for a moment, long enough to shout out, " Help!" before he too lost the energy to stay awake.  
  
All three teens collapsed to the ground.  
  
**********  
  
Todd woke up a few hours later with a monumental headache. He opened his eyes, forgetting what had happened for a few moments and looking about himself in confusion. Then it all came back to him – the night before, he remembered watching Rob getting hit by the SUV, he remembered his heart tore itself from his chest, so painful had that sight been. He was certain that Rob was dead.  
  
He remembered running to side brother's side. He had shouted at him, shook him as hard as he could to get Rob to notice him – but Rob had been beyond them then.   
  
Todd jumped out of his bed. He felt a wave of dizziness crash over him from his sudden movements, but he didn't care how terrible he felt. He had to know if Rob was okay, or if he was….  
  
He left the room that he was in, and nearly collided with Professor Xavier – who had been on his way into the room.  
  
" Professor!," Todd stammered out, forgot to apologize, and blurted out, " Is Rob okay?"  
  
" Todd, please," Xavier said, making his way into the room, " Have a seat."  
  
" Is Rob okay?!," Todd demanded, his body trembling in the terror of what he might find out. His body suddenly felt cold – he did not want to bear what news Xavier might have. Please don't let it be, Todd thought to himself so fiercely that even the Professor heard him.  
  
" Don't worry," Xavier replied, smiling despite Todd's fear, " Rob is fine… for the moment. We can't predict what may happen, but we are doing everything we can."  
  
Todd's racing heart slowed a moment.  
  
" He's alive?," Todd asked, his words so fragile as if the hope that rested upon such a statement may just collapse under a louder voice.  
  
" He's alive for the moment," Xavier said, stressing the word 'moment' to Todd's disappointment, " He's going to have to recover from quite a lot – his leg and his skull is fractured, and he broke his collar bone. He is suffering from a intense concussion. But he may well recover, and recover soon. We have an excellent doctor working on him."  
  
" Doctor?," Todd asked – as far as he knew, Dr. Jean Gray had disappeared months ago without a sign, presumed dead. What other doctor could there be?  
  
" When I knew what had happened –" Xavier started, Todd realized that he would have known about the accident through his telepathy, " I sent Kurt to find the best doctor that I knew – he has an exceptional skill at understanding the human body, and with circumstances being how they were, I had to hope that I could trust him."  
  
" He's… He's a mutant, isn't he?," Todd asked, slowly calming down and wanting to know more about this person who was working at saving Rob's life.  
  
" Yes," Xavier said, " A potentially dangerous mutant."  
  
Xavier led Todd through the lower levels of the mansion to the room where Rob was being kept. When Todd saw his brother again, he felt as if he had walked directly into a brick wall.   
  
Rob was certainly alive – but he was pale. Very, very pale. He looked like he couldn't last much longer. His left leg was bound perfectly in white bandages, his shoulder wrapped up tightly, and half of his face hidden under the gauze that wound over his face. Todd swallowed his apprehension and walked into the room.  
  
There was no one else in the room save Xavier, Todd, Rob, and a stranger that Todd had never seen before – who was sitting in the corner looking over his patient.  
  
" They have done quite a number on this little brother, yes?," the doctor muttered softly towards Xavier, his body language lacking any emotion except for that in his burning eyes.  
  
" Have you done what you can?," Xavier asked, there was an authority on his voice that Todd hardly heard him use before.  
  
" There is no need to fear, is there? It would be foolish of me to let one with powers like his to die, yes? A waste on my part, wouldn't it?," the mutant replied, a smirk spreading over his face. He was motionless for a moment, and then got up to leave the room.  
  
" I shall return shortly," the mutant doctor replied, " There is little more that I can do. Being in company with his pain is torment enough."  
  
VooDoo was gone.  
  
Xavier turned to leave the room as well, but he stopped and turned to Todd.  
  
" You can trust Jeff with Rob's life," Xavier offered, " Like he said, he will not let Rob die."  
  
Xavier was gone, and Todd was at last alone with his brother.  
  
************  
  
It had been weeks since the accident, and Rob had still not pulled out of his coma, though his health was steadily increasing. Todd hardly left that room during that time, he hardly spoke a word to any of the other mutants at the school if he saw them. He was completely at a lose – his life at a stand still in the anticipation.  
  
Adrian was much the same way – he was overwhelmed with anxiety over his friend, but more so at what he should expect from Rob when he woke up. Would Rob want to go back to the Brotherhood? Would he have learned anything? Would Adrian even want to have to bear witnessing his friend acting like them?  
  
Time wore on…  
  
*****************  
  
A few days passed. Todd was sitting in a chair that rested next to Rob's bed. He stared forward, not really looking at anything, with an expression that was deadpan and uninterested. The time was beginning to show on his face.  
  
For a few hours, Rob had been stirring in bed – Todd was hoping that this meant that he would be awake soon, but a few hours had passed. Now Rob was still once again.  
  
The disappointment was definite.  
  
Todd was finally convinced that he should expect nothing from his brother that night, and stood up to leave.  
  
" Todd?," a small voice asked.  
  
Todd wheeled about faster than he would have deemed possible – laying in the bed, Rob was looking at him, his eyes not exactly focusing.  
  
" Rob?," Todd asked, " You're awake?"  
  
" Where am I?," Rob asked, looking down at his body, noticing his leg and shoulder in bandages. He lifted his right hand to his forehead – and felt the bandages that protected his fractured skull. He had the appearance of one who couldn't remember what had happened to him – maybe he would forget that he had ever joined the Brotherhood.  
  
" You're at the Institute," Todd ve mber?"  
  
Rob appeared out of breath – this was probably the sort of stress that Rob did not need when he had just woken up from a coma – but he managed to stammer out, " Why are you here?"  
  
Todd smiled, because just then he realized how he could convince Rob of the truth, and he answered, " I'm a mutant, too!"  
  
Rob didn't say anything at all for quite a long time, then he smiled slightly, and asked, " What can you do?"  
  
Todd took out his camera cell phone faster than he had ever done before, flipped open the phone and showed it to Rob – he was far too weak to hold anything in his hands. In a flash, Todd displayed the first memory he could think of. It was a familiar memory – when he first found out that Rob was a mutant.  
  
" You can show memories," Rob said, squinting at the phone.  
  
" Yeah, anyone's memories," Todd said, " All I have to do is touch them."  
  
Rob hesitated for a moment, and then ventured to ask, " Even that day… when everyone attacked me. There's so much.. I can't remember about that."  
  
Todd smiled – he didn't even have to ask.  
  
Rob watched the memory with a strange look on his face – he watched from his own point of view things he could not remember. Sneaking into the school, cornering his friends, forcing the X-Men to pass out, and being attacked by Rogue.   
  
" I don't remember any of that," Rob stated, " But why would I do that?"  
  
The memory of Magneto flashed up on the screen – Todd replied, " It was mind control."  
  
Rob didn't say anything for a few moments, but his breathing became heavier. Finally he said, " Todd… I can't. I…"  
  
Rob didn't finish his thoughts – his deep weariness got the better of him and he was subdued into unconsciousness. But Todd smiled. Rob was going to be okay – and finally, he knew the truth.  
  
************  
  
The next few days passed, and Rob was making quite an improvement – health wise. Even Logan helped with Rob's recovery by allowing Rogue to use his powers to heal Rob. She only got as far as his fractured leg, but it was the least she could do to make up for what she had done to Rob.  
  
But Rob was mostly silent over these days – brooding over the fact that he had been tricked into believing that he was betrayed so that he would be forced to join the Brotherhood. He felt ashamed that he could have so easily been led, and hardly spoke to anyone.  
  
Anyone except for Todd.  
  
Todd went to go see his brother a few days after Rogue had healed his leg, only to discover that Rob was no longer in his hospital bed. Instead, Xavier was there, as if waiting.  
  
" Professor, where's Rob?," Todd asked.  
  
" He's gone to Magneto," was all that Xavier said.  
  
****************  
  
Rob knew the way. With his leg healed, he could easily walk, but his left shoulder was still a mess and his arm was in a sling. Needless to say, he was driven enough to get to the Brotherhood quickly.  
  
As soon as he approached their base, he used his powers so that none of the other mutants in the Brotherhood could see him. He walked quickly passed Pyro, who was tiredly amusing himself with his lighter. Rob walked past Pietro, who was sitting at a chair while nearby his twin sister, Wanda, was comforting him.  
  
" You'll always be his son," Wanda said while Rob walked by, eavesdropping.  
  
" What good am I?," Pietro asked her, " All Magneto cares about lately is Crimson. How can I compete with that?"  
  
Rob walked by them, clenching his hands into fists.  
  
Of course, his powers only worked on people whose minds were open to his suggestions. Magneto, however, was not so easily fooled.  
  
" Crimson," Magneto said, entering the room, and the three other mutants looked up in alarm. Crimson chose to remain invisible to them.  
  
" You have come back," Magneto said warmly.  
  
" I only came back to say that I'm leaving," Rob spit back bitterly. Magneto's fatherly attitude was making him feel sick.  
  
" And return to those who want to keep you ignorant of your true strength?," Magneto asked, his own temper revealing itself in his voice.  
  
" At least they don't have to resort to using mind control to get allies," Rob shot back.   
  
Both mutants were silent, both staring at each other. Rob turned to leave.  
  
" Remember who gave you control," Magneto called after him.  
  
Rob turned around to face Magneto, his eyes narrowed into slits and he whispered back, " All I have to do is touch you."  
  
And with that, Rob left the Brotherhood. It was dark outside by the time he decided to head home. There was no doubt now about where to go. He would return to Xavier's school – over time he would get over his embarrassment at having thought that the X-Men were his enemies. He knew that they would understand, and maybe in a few years, even he would become an X-Men and help them fight against those who wanted humanity to fall.   
  
And besides – he had wasted a good six months without being able to pull pranks with Adrian, and it would be a long time before he could make up for it.  
  
;)  
  
********  
  
Yeah! It's the end!!!!!! Yeah! Yippie! Ouch (shakes wrists violently). Well, tell me what you thought of this chapter – and let me know what your favorite parts were of the fic as a whole.  
  
All of you guys have been so nice! Bravo to you! And thanx for staying with this one.  
  
Keep that positive outlook.  
  
Deke 


End file.
